Lord of Distractions
by thebluninja
Summary: Seven unlikely heroes are chosen by the angels to stop Diablo before the Lord of Terror can free his brothers. Of course, they're unlikely for a reason. A Diablo2 parody!
1. Introduction, and Blood Raven

****_So. Over eight years ago, I sat down and wrote this fanfic, posting it to the PlanetDiablo forums. Last week, it occurred to me, that I wrote it over _five _computers ago. And sure enough, not a singly copy existed on any of my own machines. Fortunately, the internet has saved it, and before I lose it again, I am reposting Lord of Distractions, a Diablo2 parody, to , where hopefully it will live out a long and fruitful life undoubtably devoid of reviews and favorites. Enjoy reading (or re-reading, if you're a long-lost fan) it. Questions may or may not get answered in an afterword. - BlueNinja_

**Act One**

The warrior struggled, but to no avail. The undead held him firmly, waiting for their master's word. They had captured his caravan the night before, slaughtering everyone, but dragging him away after they battered him unconscious. His skills had been for nothing, as every time he struck down one of the skeletons, it reformed moments later.

Somewhere in the darkness, a metal door clanged open. He jerked his head up, eyes trying desperately to see anything in the pitch black. It closed again, and scraping footsteps headed his way. "So, you are the warrior Tyrael picked to cause us problems," a voice hissed from the darkness. Slick and smooth, it continued. "It wasn't hard to find someone willing to sell you out. That poor girl you left behind was just heartbroken."

The warrior drew back, doubts forming in his mind. Had his sister so opposed his quest to become a fighter that she would have betrayed him? Torturous thoughts whirling around in his head, he missed the next words of his captor. But when red light suddenly blossomed, all thoughts fled his mind.

His captor stood there, at least ten feet high. Shadows seemed to wrap themselves around him, and his skin was a bruised color everywhere. Great horns, like a ram, curled out the sides of his head, and his teeth were layered and sharper than any predator. "Belial!" the warrior gasped, fighting desperately to free himself from undead hands.

The demon laughed quietly, a noise that wormed its way into his very bones. The warrior shivered, shaking his head back and forth to try and rid himself of the sound. Belial lunged forward, wrapping a clawed hand around his prisoner's chin. "You will be dead soon, and so painful will it be for you. I will enjoy watching your suffering."

So carefully, Belial took one of the warrior's hands, and very methodically broke every bone. Listening to the screams, like some sort of demented music, he laughed again. "Oh, yes, what a pleasure you will be to break, mortal."

In a small room, somewhere in Heaven, Hadriel and Gabriel drew back from the divination crystal. "This doesn't bode well for our plans," Hadriel said. "We have barely a few days to come up with something to stop their plans."

Gabriel drummed his fingers on the tabletop, wrapping his wings around him for comfort. "I know. Sometimes I wonder if our battle with Hell must always be fought with mortals, like a strange game of chess." The other angel laughed, and Gabriel gave him an affronted look. "Well, the comparison is an apt one, you must admit."

Hadriel sighed, nodding reluctantly. "Perhaps. But you can hardly argue that Tyrael's plan to prevent Diablo from freeing his brothers would have been inefficient."

Gabriel shrugged. "They have numbers, we have righteousness. Still, what shall we do now?"

Hadriel laughed. "Simple, my friend. I'm going to cheat."

The other angel looked at him oddly. "What are you talking about?"

In response, Hadriel tapped the crystal on the table. The image changed, splitting and showing seven different people. "I've been doing a little bit of study of mortals. These seven are of interest, mainly because they're unexpected. If we send all of them, I think that it is inevitable that Diablo will be defeated."

Gabriel looked up with a raised eyebrow. "Perhaps. Individually, I would dismiss them as nothing. But as you say, together they seem to be far more powerful than Tyrael's chosen hero." He rose abruptly. "Very well, you redirect them to the Sisterhood's camp, and I will do my best to make sure they get there.

As he reached for the door, Hadriel stopped him. "There's another worry, Gabriel. Only about a dozen of us knew about Tyrael's chosen hero." Gabriel went completely still under his hand. "So either one of the highest angels has betrayed us … or Belial has managed to get a spy even into the highest levels of Heaven."

Gabriel slowly bowed his head, resting it against the door. "Then I will be as discrete as possible, Hadriel. But that thought gives me more fear than anything since the birth of the race of Man."

Tharos gasped in pain, backpedaling furiously and blocking with his shield. He muttered something obscene under his breath, and swung the wooden club, skipping it off the zombie's head. It moaned, and swung again, connecting against his buckler with a muffled clang. With another swing, the zombie's face caved in, and the monster fell to the ground.

He stood silently for a moment, looking around the dim cave. The ring of light he had found earlier lit the gloom only slightly, but nothing moved. After another moment, Tharos waved his hand, muttering the arcane sigil. The fallen zombie twitched, then the bones ripped free, climbing over each other. The skeleton stood there, swaying slightly, bony hands clutching a rusty sword.

Tharos smiled, and turned to head deeper into the cave. But with a crackling explosion, his skeleton warrior collapsed, as an arrow flew out of the darkness.

Erris pulled another arrow from her quiver and fired, the arrow vanishing up to the feathers into the demon's skull. But from around the corner, another two of them appeared. "Rakinishu!" one of them shouted, waving his torch in the air. She smiled grimly as another arrow vanished into monster flesh, and the second demon ran back around the corner with a wail.

Erris trotted forward again, pulling another arrow and nocking it on her bow. Her eyes followed the bobbing torch as the red-skinned monster stopped to peer around in the darkness. Another arrow sped away, and the torch snuffed out as the demon hit the ground. She continued trotting forward, moving deeper into the cave.

Then she almost screamed, as from the darkness ahead of her rose up a skeleton. The empty eye sockets stared through her, and it slowly raised the rusty sword it bore. But another arrow shattered the skull, and the bones collapsed into a pile.

Tharos stepped out from around the corner, his club and shield at the ready. "What the … who are you? What did you do that for?"

Erris stared at him in surprise, looking at the bones that adorned his clothes and armor. "You're a necromancer! Prepare to die, minion of evil!"

Tharos squawked, and ducked behind his buckler as an arrow skipped off it. "What in the blazes are you doing in here, you madwoman? I thought all the Sisters were back protecting the camp!"

Erris scowled. "I'm not one of the Sightless Eye, fool! I am Erris of Karcheus, and I've been sent here by Akara to cleanse this cave of all its foul inhabitants. Which includes you!"

Tharos ducked back around the corner as another arrow sped past. "What are you talking about? I was sent here by Akara!"

Oksana moved through the darkness of the cave, holding a small firebomb in her hand. "Figures," she muttered, "they have to send me out here, all by myself. Just because the headmaster finds me picking the lock on my chastity belt. At least I got the damn thing off." She stopped as a zombie lurched through the darkness, and carefully activated the trap. With an underhand toss, the trap spun through the gloom, hitting the monster on the shoulder and igniting.

Oksana rubbed her eyes, trying to clear away the dazzle. "Humph, what idiot made the rule that students have to be celibate, anyway? Not like it would affect our performance, anyway." She continued her whispered monologue as she crept through the cave.

When she stopped again, it was not a monster that halted her. Instead, a tall, blond man, holding a mace and buckler, was crouched behind a large stalagmite, apparently examining some piece of armor he had picked up. Licking her lips, Oksana snuck up behind him, and wrapped her arms around him. "Hey there big boy, how about you and I lose some clothing?"

Tharos almost turned around, as a high-pitched scream echoed through the cave from somewhere behind him. Erris started to move around him, but the stone passageway wasn't quite wide enough. "Look here, you, er, what is your name, anyway?" she asked.

"My name is Tharos," he said, mustering up an air of injured dignity. "I was sent out here by Akara, whatever you say about it, so I suggest we find out who screamed, and go back to ask her what's what."

Erris rolled her eyes, muttering, "Fine," and the two of them dashed down the passageway. They stopped as they caught sight of Oksana, knocked on her rear, with a tall blond man standing over her.

He stared at the two newcomers, then threw his mace to the ground in disgust. "I swear, can't a chap follow through on his test without bumping over another glory-hounding adventurer?"

Tharos stopped, and looked around, as Erris helped the assassin to her feet. "A glory-hounding what? Look, my name is Tharos. Who are you two, and why are all of you interfering with my job?"

"My name is Rupert," the paladin spat, "and what do you mean, your job? I answered a want ad in the Light Times about this place, so I'd appreciate it if you'd all just shove off and go back to wherever you came from!"

"What?" The necromancer reached into a rather large pouch, and pulled out a slightly worn newspaper. "Right here, last page of the Dead News. 'Wanted: one hero to defeat forces of darkness. No experience needed, apply at Rogue Camp.' I said, I'm here on a job, and you three are interfering!"

As the necromancer and paladin squared off against each other, Garou, a druid, approached the entrance to the Den of Evil. He looked around at the smattering of fallen monsters, then looked at the raven sitting on his shoulder. "I think someone has beaten us to the task," he said. The raven cawed in reply.

With a sigh, Garou squared his shoulders, hefted his sword, and entered the cave. "Now all I have to do is follow these tracks, and I can find …" His voice trailed off as he examined the dirt floor inside the cave. "Five sets of tracks? I have to compete with five other people for this?" The raven cawed again, and Garou snarled as he headed deeper into the cave.

Back in the Rogue Encampment, Akara sighed and leaned against the wall. "Well, Kashya?"

"Humph. I'm hoping we never hear from any of them again." She scowled, shaking her head sadly. "I've never seen a bigger collection of misfits in my life. I truly hope that the real hero Tyrael promised us will appear."

"Indeed. But yet, I wonder," Akara mused aloud, "why Tyrael is so interested in this matter? In any case, it appears there is one more person."

Both rogues looked towards the gate, as a large figure strode into view. The barbarian was clad only in a rough loincloth, but the twin axes strapped to his shoulders looked battle-tested. Kashya started to smile as the warrior strode up to them.

"I, Ron Bars! You, rogue leader?" The barbarian boomed out, and Kashya turned and started coughing from his breath. Akara simply sighed, and repeated herself yet again.

"There is a place of great evil in the wilderness …"

Erris looked at Oksana. "Are those two going to argue all day? I'm sure every monster still in this cave already knows we're here." Oksana giggled, and held up a finger.

Quietly she walked around behind Rupert, and then leaped on him, wrapping her arms and legs around him and whispering in his ear. With another high-pitched scream, the paladin waved his arms wildly, before falling over backwards. As the amazon and necromancer watched in disbelief, the paladin fought wildly to free himself, finally springing back to his feet and backing away from the dark-haired woman. "Have you no shame?"

"Obviously not, and you don't have any survival skills, do you?" The voice floated out of the darkness, then a woman's face was lit as she conjured up a floating ball of light. "Though I'm still wondering how you four idiots managed to kill everything in this cave."

The sorceress stepped into the open area, scowling at everybody. "I mean, really, a scream that loud, not to mention just - mmph!" Her rant was cut short as she tripped over the end of her staff. Erris just snickered at her, and Tharos smiled slightly as he helped her back to her feet.

"What is a sorceress doing out here, anyway? For that matter, what are all of you doing here?" Tharos looked around at the group. "I mean, I answered a want ad, but I doubt the rest of you read the most popular Necromancer newspaper."

Rupert snorted. "Hardly! Every paladin must go on a quest to prove his skill and devotion to the side of Good. This is supposed to be my quest!"

Erris laughed at him. "Sure, a paladin who screams when a woman touches him?" Rupert's face burned red with embarrassment. "My teachers send every woman out into the world for a year when we reach adulthood. It's considered training for our mercenary future. They suggested I start here, and travel a bit."

Jezebel, the sorceress, shrugged and waved her staff for emphasis, almost hitting Tharos in the nose. "My master, er, former master, told me I had reached journeyman status. So she helped me cast a divination spell, and it said I was needed here."

Oksana giggled. "I got kicked out of my training school. The headmaster caught me picking the lock on my chastity belt."

The entire group stopped to stare at her. "What?" she asked as she looked at them. "I think it's a stupid rule too, but is it worth kicking me out?"

"As for me, I blame Munin," Garou said, as the group approached the entrance to the cave. "Now that I've seen all of you, I'm going back to complain to Akara. I thought I was the only person assigned to this task."

"Who the devil are you," Rupert asked, waving his mace menacingly. "And who is Munin?"

In response, Garou picked the raven off his shoulder and tossed the bird into the air. The raven let out an angry squawk, and narrowly missed the druid with a load of dropping. "He's Munin, and I'm Garou. I'm sure we can make more introductions on the way back to the Rogue camp."

As the group stepped back out into the sunlight, the looming shape of the barbarian came lumbering up. "I, Ron Bars! Who you?" The six let out a collective sigh.

"But you told me this was going to be my quest for the light!"  
"It's supposed to be my job, not yours!"  
"Quiet, you corpse lover! I'm the one who's supposed to be here by divination!"

Akara and Kashya stood there in silence, letting the group bicker. The only other person silent was Ron Bars, but the rogue leaders suspected that his silence was caused by stupidity, not patience. Finally, Kashya drew an arrow from her quiver and fired it, shattering on the stone wall and gaining everyone's attention.

"I don't care who got here with what directive, because I have no idea what you're all doing here in the first place!" She glared impartially at all of them, giving the sullen silence a moment longer to grow. "Good. Now then …

"My rogue scouts have just reported an abomination …"

The group of seven stood at the gates to the graveyard. In the darkening twilight, they could see and hear the shuffling of zombie feet, the tortured bodies raised by Blood Raven. Almost as one, they all turned to look at Tharos. He looked back. "What? Why are you all looking at me?"

Erris rolled her eyes. "Look, dead boy, can you tell us how many there are? I'd like to know the odds before we go in there."

Tharos looked back into the graveyard, silent for several minutes. "There are about a hundred graves. I think only about three dozen zombies though."

Jezebel glared at him. "You think? Isn't that a novel idea."

Oksana tapped the back of the sorceress' head with the flat of her katar. "Quiet, mage. Are we going in there now, or are we just going to stand here until the sun comes up tomorrow?"

"Ron Bars fight!" The loud shout made the others cringe, as all the zombies in the graveyard suddenly turned towards the gate. As they frantically readied themselves for the fight, the corrupted rogue archer appeared from the mausoleum.

Jezebel strode forward, crying out a battle cry a summoning up a fire bolt. But two steps later she tripped, as the barbarian went thundering past her. Ron Bars swung both his axes, but he seemed quickly buried under zombies.

Erris fired arrow after arrow at Blood Raven, but the rogue just cackled at her, dancing on a tombstone as she dodged every shot. Garou threw Munin into the air, drew his sword, and charged in behind the barbarian.

Oksana and Tharos looked at each other. "This doesn't look good," she muttered, fingering another firebomb in her left hand. The necromancer didn't reply, waving his club and muttering. A moment later, Oksana nodded, and tossed the bomb up into the air.

The bomb came down, landing just in front of the tombstone, impacting perfectly on the skeleton Tharos had been trying to raise. Jezebel had managed to get back to her feet, casting a fire bolt into the melee and hitting Ron Bars in the back of the head. With a roar of "Ouch!" the barbarian swung around, narrowly missing Garou with his axe as he glared at Jezebel.

Tharos turned back to Oksana and slapped her. "You dunce! I almost had her with my skeleton, but you blew it to pieces!"

"Me? Tell me what you're trying to do next time, or move a little faster!" With a quick "Humph!" she also dashed into the melee beside the barbarian and druid.

Erris finally turned around to look at Rupert. "Well? Aren't you going to do anything?"

"I am," he replied. A moment went by, and he finally continued under her glare. "It's a well known fact that paladins can help other warriors simply by their presence. So, I'm helping."

The amazon grabbed him by the shirt and pulled. "Listen, you idiot paladin, pick up that mace and go hit Blood Raven until she stops moving!" Then, with a startled yelp, she pulled him down as an arrow flew over their heads.

From the tree, the raven Munin sat and watched the whole spectacle. Finally, the bird took flight again, circling over the rogue, and letting go with another load of droppings. Blood Raven cried out in shock, and fell off the tombstone, just as one of Erris' arrows flew past. Another firebomb flew overhead past Blood Raven, destroying another of Tharos' skeletons sneaking up behind her.

In the melee, the barbarian, druid, and assassin were by now back to back, all fighting hard to fend off the zombie's strikes. Rupert came up, and sighed. "You kill a zombie like this!" With an emphatic swing, he knocked off the head of the zombie in front of him. As the paladin stood there smiling dazzlingly, the headless corpse swayed, then turned around and proceeded to pummel him.

Oksana sighed, watching him as she used her katars to block. "So cute, and yet, so clueless."

Garou snickered at her. "Somehow I think you'd be better off looking for a husband somewhere without demons."

She stopped in the middle of battle to size him up. "Why go somewhere else? There seems to be enough available men right here." She reached over to grope him, and got pecked on the hand as Munin came winging back to Garou's shoulder.

In the meantime, Jezebel had managed to work her way around the zombie melee to where Blood Raven had fallen. She tried to leap atop the same tombstone, but instead tripped over her own feet again. Her staff went flying, hitting Blood Raven in the temple and knocking the rogue out cold.

The zombies, deprived of magical leadership, all collapsed in a heap. The others stopped fighting, but Ron Bars kept hacking away until Garou stopped him. The seven slowly gathered around their unconscious foe.

Jezebel picked up her staff and carefully prodded Blood Raven. "Is she dead?"

"Nope," Tharos sighed. "Just unconscious."

With a meaty thunk, one of the barbarian's axes buried itself in her head. As the others looked at him in horror, he shrugged. "Dead," he boomed out.

"Yeah, dead all right," Erris said with a shiver. "Well, anyway, we should report this back to Akara, right?"

Akara and Kashya looked at each other in stunned disbelief as the troupe of seven came trudging back into the rogue camp shortly after dawn. Ron Bars tossed Blood Raven's head at Akara's feet. "I, Ron Bars, kill!"

"Sure, while she was unconscious on the ground."  
"And you can thank me for that, my excellent throw -"  
"Keep dreaming, mage, you tripped."  
"If she hadn't kept bombing my skeletons I could have -"  
"You're trying to blame this on me? You should cast a little faster!"

The two rogue leaders stood back once again while the six bickered, with the barbarian looking from one to another with a slightly mystified look on his face. Finally, Kashya sighed and whistled. "You know, Akara, I'm truly sorry to do this, but she asked for it."

The priestess looked astounded. "You mean, that girl … I thought you told her she had to stop her gambling?"

The mercenary nodded, and stopped as a rogue started to jog up. But when the new girl caught sight of the seven almost-heroes, she stopped and tried to run the other way. But two more rogues caught her, picked her up, and carried her to Kashya. "It's not fair," she wailed.

"Fair or not, Flora, you asked for it!" Kashya glared at the rogue as she shouted. "We've told you enough times to stop cheating the other girls out of their money!"

Flora dropped her gaze and looked at her feet. "It's not like you let me keep it, anyway. Why can't I have a little fun?"

Kashya smirked. "You can have fun, helping this group of … of …"

"Misfits?" Flora smirked back. The seven behind her glowered.

"Whatever. You're going with them. Or else." The last two words hung in the air, promising a preview of Hell is the girl did not comply.

Oksana looked Kashya up and down again. "Have you ever been to the Viz-Jaq'taar training schools? Because you sound just like an instructor, and I'd swear I'd seen that tight butt - mmph!"

Rupert quickly cut her off by stuffing his cap into her mouth. "Ehehe … anyway, Kashya, I think I speak for all of us when I say we're grateful, but we really don't need her help."

The rogue stepped up nose to nose with the paladin and glared him down. "She's going."

"Um. Right then. What now?"

Everyone looked at Akara, who stood there, eyes closed, leaning against the stone wall. "Angels and ministers of grace, defend us," she muttered, before opening her eyes and looking at the seven almost-heroes and their new henchman.

"It is clear that we are facing a great evil …"


	2. Deckard Cain, and the Countess

The group stood at the entrance to another cavern. Erris sighed. "I hate caves," she muttered, drawing a torch from her pack.

Jezebel nodded, raising her empty hand and conjuring a ball of magelight. "Being underground is too close to being in a tomb," she muttered nodding.

Shaking his head sadly, Tharos stepped forward into the cave. "Everyone dies eventually. It is just another step in the long walk of life."

Garou nodded agreement, absently playing with Munin's feathers. "But enough philosophy, right? We have to find a really big tree with a scroll in it."

With an axe in one hand and a torch in the other, Ron Bars followed Tharos into the cave. He looked around expectantly before sighing with disappointment. "Cave empty," he boomed out.

"And thank the angels for that," Rupert muttered. "I've seen just about enough demon porcupines on the way here, thank you very much!" He jumped, not quite shouting, and glared at Oksana as she withdrew her hand.

"Enough already, children," Erris spat as she started deeper into the cave. "Let's try and get through here so we're not walking through the forest in the middle of the night."

The others nodded silent agreement and pressed onward. Several times, Ron Bars would stop, and press an ear to the wall, as though trying to listen for something. Finally the druid tossed his pet into the air, and Munin took off, winging through the stalactites and out of sight.

The group continued warily, fingering weapons and watching the darkness all around them. Finally the raven returned, landing on Garou's shoulder and cawing. "He says there's an ambush up ahead. Those little red demons."

With a happy shout, Ron Bars sprang forward into the darkness, singing a barbarian battle song as he charged forward. The others groaned and dashed after him, all prepared for battle.

The Fallen weren't quite prepared for them. The first one dropped from the roof of the cave, landing right into Ron Bars' arms. The barbarian didn't hesitate, shouting a battle cry right into the demon's face. The Fallen collapsed, coughing horribly from the barbarian's breath. In a single move, Ron Bars hurled the demon forward, bowling over a Shaman.

The battle ended fairly quickly, with numerous demons fleeing into the cave, screaming in terror. Arrows and fire bolts cut down a few, but the group was content to let them run.

Eventually, they found the other exit to the cave, and emerged into a much cloudier afternoon. "We'll never be able to find the Tree in this mess," Oksana complained. "This forest is horribly overgrown as it is!"

Flora sighed, and pointed. "It's over there." The others looked at her. "Well, I live near here, I ought to know where a hundred foot tall tree is, right?"

The druid snickered. "Besides, you can see it over the top of the forest." The others all followed his gaze, looking up through the forest at the skeletal branches.

Finally, the group reached the tree. After half an hour of slogging through underbrush, Jezebel convinced Ron Bars to chop a path through the bushes, over Garou's objections.

So there they stood, on the edge of a large clearing, the trunk of the giant Tree of Inifuss there in the center. But around the tree, sleeping soundly, were a dozen large Wailing Beasts. Rupert promptly stuffed his cap into the barbarian's mouth. "No shouting, got it?" In response, Ron Bars chewed, and swallowed, the rough leather.

Jezebel winced. "I can try and cast a static field around them. That will weaken them, so you combat people can take them on."

Erris shrugged. "I suggest that Flora and I stay back here in the trees and rake them with arrows."

Tharos nodded. "And I can curse them as well."

"All right then, we'll … er, where did Garou go?" Rupert asked, looking around for the druid.

Finally, Oksana pointed up. The druid had climbed up a tree behind them, and was reaching for a branch of the Tree of Inifuss. But just as he made a grab, the branch cracked under his weight with a loud snap.

The druid didn't quite fall, but the Wailing Beasts all awoke. "Oh bollocks," Rupert muttered, raising his mace. "Charge!"

With warcries, the paladin and barbarian raced forward into the clearing, falling on two of the beasts quickly. From the trees, the amazon and rogue fired volleys of arrows, and the sorceress cast her static field.

But even with the magical backup, the two warriors were quickly pressed backwards, working hard to fend off the powerful blows from the towering monsters. That, of course, was when Garou fell out of the tree. He landed square on the lead beast, kneeing it in the eye.

Then Oksana joined the fray, throwing firebombs with one hand and slashing with her katar. The Wailing Beasts again went on the defensive, as the arrows and magical forces began to take their toll. One by one they fell, until only their leader was left, back against the tree, trying to fend off axe, mace, and katar.

The assassin let out a whoop as an arrow finally pierced the monster's eye, tossing a firebomb into the air. It arced into the air, impacting against the side of the giant tree, igniting the dry wood.

Garou quickly turned to the sorceress. "Quickly, cast something to put it out!"

She paled and looked back at him. "I don't know any ice spells! Somebody grab the scroll!"

With a quick smash of his mace, Rupert knocked a hole in the trunk and fished around inside. With the flames leaping down the tree, he pulled out the scroll, brandishing it. "I got it!"

"It's on fire!" Erris screamed back at him. They frantically tried to put it out, until at last Ron Bars grabbed it from them, turned around, and lifted his loincloth. Tharos groaned, and Oksana looked up at the tree. "You know, maybe we should get out of here back to the cave? Before the whole forest burns down?"

The group collapsed on the grass near Akara. Gingerly, the priestess took the slightly charred and urine soaked scroll. "You burned down half the mountain, and almost destroyed our only chance of reaching Cain."

Rupert shrugged nervously. "On the bright side, no more monsters in the forest!"

"And no more forest." Erris reached over and smacked him.

Akara sighed and disappeared into her tent. A few minutes later she reappeared, with several scraps of paper, and handed one to each of the group. "Take this to the Cairn Stones, and touch them in the proper order. It will open a portal to Tristram, where hopefully you can rescue Cain without burning down the entire town!"

They stood in front of the tall Cairn Stones, watching as Rupert read off his scrap of paper and touched the stones in order. With their echoing noise trailing through the morning air, all of them jumped when lightning started to arc between the stones, finally settling into a pattern and opening an orange portal.

Erris prodded Ron Bars with her bow. "You first," she said, and the barbarian raised his axes and stepped into the portal. The others swiftly followed.

All of them stopped to gaze in horror at the remnants of the small town. Most of the fires had died out, and the gutted skeletons of buildings pointed up to the sky, accusingly. Munin hopped away, flying down to land on the corpse of a cow, starting to peck at it.

"Something very bad happened here," Jezebel muttered, gripping her staff tightly.

"Gee, you think so?" Erris shot back, moving towards the center of the town. "Let's hope this old fool is still around."

The group moved slowly to the center of the village, looking into empty doorways for demons. Tharos stopped at every corpse, whispering something under his breath. Flora dropped back to look at him. "Last rites," he whispered back.

Finally they reached the town square, the fountain broken and poisoned water slowly trickling away. Rupert pointed at the hanging cage, and the unconscious man inside. They moved quietly across the stained dirt, and the druid and paladin worked to lower the cage.

As the cage reached the ground, Ron Bars roared. The group turned around, to see the possessed Griswold, with a troupe of skeletons and Fallen behind him. The barbarian pushed the others away from the gibbet, and ripped the thick supporting post from the ground. With another war cry, Ron Bars swung it around, throwing the tree-size pole at the former blacksmith.

Unfortunately, Cain's cage was still attached. The old sage awoke with a howl as he went flying, the cage crashing into Griswold and splitting open. The others cried out in horror too, and rushed forward to attack. Tharos called out an apology to a burned corpse as he animated the skeleton. Munin just sat on the top of a chimney, laughing at the group.

Fortunately, Griswold had been knocked down, and the pole had taken out several skeletons. But the group was vastly outnumbered. Oksana rushed up to Cain, grabbed him, and threw him over her shoulder, tossing several fire bombs into the crowd of demons. "Run, damnit! Back to the portal!"

With Garou and Ron Bars guarding the rear, the group slowly started back to the portal. But even as they moved, more skeletons appeared from between buildings, leaving only Erris' and Flora's arrows to keep their flanks clear.

As they finally reached the edge of the town, Griswold reappeared, wielding a giant axe in one hand. Jezebel screamed, throwing numerous fire bolts back at him, but the blacksmith just shrugged them off. Rupert stood at the portal, waving his mace frantically. "Hurry!"

The eight rushed through, with Ron Bars stumbling through last. "How do you turn this thing off?" Erris shouting, firing arrows back into the portal.

As Griswold started to appear through the portal, the barbarian dropped his axes, wrapping his arms around one massive stone. He screamed with the exertion, and as the druid and paladin fought to keep the monsters from breaking through, the stone finally pulled free of the ground.

With a wail and a pop, the portal vanished, slicing off the arm of an overeager demon. Ron Bars dropped the Cairn Stone, and it toppled sideways, knocking another one flat. The eight stared blankly at the empty air, then dropped heavily to the grass.

Cain looked at the group in astonishment. "What," he gasped out, "was that?"

Oksana grinned and kissed him. "Your rescue!"

"That wasn't a rescue! That was a retreat!" He slowly picked up speed as he talked. "That was a farce, a disaster! What about all those demons back there? What about Griswold?" He stopped, coughing horribly, and Rupert leaned over to support him.

"They're there, you're here, and Akara wants to speak to you." The paladin patted the sage comfortingly on the back. "We're the heroes she's picked to rescue back their monastery."

Cain looked around again. "Humanity is screwed."

Garou tapped Erris on the shoulder. "Is it just me, or does he sound like Shawn Connery?"

They finally trooped back into the Rogue camp, with Cain making sure to keep Erris between himself and the assassin. Akara and Kashya looked at each other. "I don't believe this," the mercenary said. "They actually managed to do something without screwing up."

Cain heard the last part. "What do you mean? Tristram was destroyed by demons, and these cowards just picked me up and ran away!"

Akara looked grave. "Tristram was destroyed by demons?"

Cain sighed, and leaned against the stone wall. "Yes. For centuries, Tristram was the resting place of the Soulstone that contained Diablo." Everyone gasped theatrically. "But King Leoric somehow was corrupted by the Soulstone. The warrior who came to Tristram defeated King Leoric, and I believed he had hidden the Soulstone away again. But he fell under the influence of the Lord of Terror as well, and Diablo is again loose in the world!"

Rupert looked at Akara and Cain nervously. "Um … is it too late to quit?"

The next morning, as the sun peeked over the horizon, the motley band awoke. Garou was the first one awake, standing and stretching. As Rupert also stood, the druid looked around. "Where's Oksana?" he asked.

As if in answer, the back of Warriv's wagon was kicked open, and the poor trader pushed out wearing nothing but a tattered nightshirt. Jezebel swiped at Garou with her staff. "That'll teach you to ask stupid questions." Rupert blushed furiously at the implications and turned away.

As they began to prepare themselves for the day, Charsi approached the group. "Um, hey guys?" she asked, nervously twirling a strand of bleached blond hair around a finger. "Like, I don't mean to impose or anything, but, like, it would be so cool if you could do me a favor?"

Rupert nodded, trying his best to look impressive. "Of course, my lady. What can we do for you?"

"When I fled the monastery …"

Garou and Oksana walked in the lead of the group, as they tramped through the ashes of the Dark Forest. Most of them had tied pieces of cloth around their face to filter the air, and Jezebel was covered head to foot from numerous falls.

"So tell me, what is Assassin training truly like?" Garou asked, idly whittling a small stick.

She sighed happily. "Oh, it's really cool. I can't tell you how to get there, but they have this old monastery. It's huge! The cathedral was converted over, that's where we do our martial training. And the catacombs below are set up with traps, that's for higher students. Practicing picking locks, disarming traps, dodging spells, stuff like that."

Oksana shrugged, kicking at a burned branch and scattering ashes everywhere. "They have a whole building set aside for graduation. Instructors wait in there, and you've got to get through the building and get an item. Some parts are fighting, some are avoiding magic users, some are sneaking past."

Garou smiled. "It sounds like you enjoyed it."

"Oh, I never got that far. The instructors kicked me out. I stole a lockpick from the catacombs." She shrugged again. "I think they were more angry I'd put one past them."

"Eww!" Erris suddenly jumped up and down, shaking her foot. The amazon had stepped into a puddle, filled with ashes until it was a mushy, gray paste. "Yuck! What is this stuff?"

Flora looked around. "I think we've made it to the black marsh. Though it's not much of a marsh anymore."

As the group continued, Tharos looked around. "Hey, Flora, what's that building over there?"

The others looked in the direction he was pointing. "Ah, it's just some old tower," Flora said. "It's been a ruin for longer than I've been alive. There were some rumors about old treasure down there, but no one has ever bothered to find out."

Everyone shared a few glances. "What the heck," Rupert said, "Let's check it out. We're not going that far out of our way, after all."

The fire had mostly bypassed the tower, but Tharos tested the crumbling masonry before entering. "Hey, there's a ladder down here. It's in good shape, too."

Ron Bars leaped forward excitedly. "Ron Bars kill monsters!" The barbarian strode towards the ladder, and another part of the floor gave way, dropping him into the cellars with a crash.

Rupert carefully sidled up to the hole. "Ron, are you ok down there?" Nothing but silence greeted his call. "Damnit, he could be hurt, and that ladder is out of reach now!"

Jezebel snorted, and stepped forward, waving her staff. With a jerk, the ladder started to move towards Rupert. But then the ladder stopped, toppling over into the cellar. Garou groaned. "If I can get to the wall, I can probably climb down."

As the others watched, the druid carefully picked his way down the decaying wall into the cellars. But after he disappeared from sight, there was no reply from him either.

With even more worried looks, the other six climbed down, one by one, into the dark cellars of the Forgotten Tower.

Jezebel led the way, a ball of magelight floating at the end of her staff. Erris and Flora both held arrows ready, and Tharos had re-animated a wandering zombie. But the dank halls were mostly deserted, with only the occasional zombie stumbling through the darkness.

They descended one level, then another, and a third. As the group turned a corner, Erris held up a hand, motioning the others to silence. Faintly through the tunnels, they could hear something that sounded like a magical chant. They moved slowly and quietly, avoiding the few zombies.

Soon they stood close to the singing. The edge of the magelight just reached a yawning doorway, from whence the singing came. With another glance around the group rushed into the room, Tharos' sword-waving skeletons in the lead.

They screeched to a halt quickly. There stood their missing companions, drinking from ancient iron steins, out of a tapped cask of wine. Garou was sitting next to the keg, singing something off-key and gulping down wine in-between verses. Ron Bars had already passed out, lying on top of the keg.

The six just stood there and stared for a moment, but the drunken druid paid them no attention. Finally Erris stepped forward and slapped the mug out of his hand. "By Belial's Teeth, what are you doing down here?"

Garou focused bleary eyes on her. "*hic* Have a drink, shweetheart." He leered at her, but the amazon slapped him harder. He toppled backwards, falling unconscious.

Again, the group shared looks of concern. Oksana stepped over to the cask, taking a small amount in her hands and sipping it. "Whoa! That's some strong stuff!" She swayed on her feet, leaning against the cask for support. "No wonder they're passed out from this stuff.

Tharos stood by the doorway, watching the hall. "Well, we can wait here for them to sober up, or we can keep exploring these cellars by ourselves." He looked over his shoulder at the others. "I suggest we wait here. This room seems easily defendable."

Erris nodded agreement. "Let's take watches. Me and Jezebel first, Rupert and Oksana next, then Flora and Tharos. Two hours each." The amazon stepped forward to the doorway, rolling up her cloak and sitting on it.

The hours passed quietly, until Ron Bars awoke. The barbarian grabbed his temples and groaned loudly, waking the others. Erris tried shaking the druid awake, and Garou also awoke groaning. "Oh, my head," he wailed.

Erris snorted. "Serves you right, you idiot. Why didn't you call back to us?"

The druid focused blood-shot eyes on her. "What are you talking about, woman? I got down there, and Ron Bars had disappeared, so I tracked him."

Rupert glared. "And what about putting the ladder back up for us?" The druid shrugged sheepishly. "Anyway, let's get moving and finish our explorations in here."

The group got together again, and continued into the tunnels. Finally they descended another level, the stairs opening into a large room, similar to a throne room. But in place of a throne was a large basin, filled to the brim with blood. Jezebel shivered.

Slowly they crossed the throne room, moving towards the archways at the back. Through them could be seen a bed chamber, the blankets rotting away and covered in webs. The sorceress stepped up to one archway, leaning to look through, but slipped and fell into the room.

"What have we here, children?"

The voice was low and raspy, and Jezebel slowly looked up to see who spoke. There stood the Countess, her flawless ivory skin shining with its own light. The sorceress screamed and scrambled backwards back into the main room.

The group leaped into the fray, Ron Bars trading blows with the Countess as the others fought back against her henchmen. But slowly they were forced back until all had their backs against the basin of blood.

Then the sorceress was struck, falling to the floor, her staff landing between Ron Bars' legs and toppling him as well. The Countess screamed in triumph as her sword came speeding down towards the barbarian's heart.

But at the last minute, Munin dived at the Countess, knocking her sword off just slightly. The weapon hit the edge of the basin, shattering the delicate ceramic. As the blood spilled out, the Countess and her servants aged rapidly, until nothing was left but a small pile of dust and bone shards.

Tharos helped the sorceress back to her feet, as she wiped blood from her face. "Well, that certainly was a surprise," Jezebel said. "It would be nice to know who that witch was."

The necromancer smiled. "I believe she was once known as the Countess of Blood. She had been the consort to Bartuc, the Warlord of Blood, but when she started to age he cast her away. So in shame she turned to dark magics, bathing in the blood of virgins to maintain her youth."

Rupert shuddered. "She bathed in blood? How disgusting."

The group looked around one last time, and Ron Bars emerged from the bed chamber. "Ron Bars find nothing," the barbarian lamented.

Erris slapped Rupert. "Next time, I'm not listening to you when you say 'Let's go exploring!'"


	3. The Blacksmith, and Andarial

As the sun started to fall below the horizon, the group stood within sight of the monastery of the Order of the Sightless Eye. Flora sighed. "Well, we're here. Home, sweet, monster-infested home."

The others all hefted their weapons again, and strode up to the main gates. Rupert looked around. "Is this the only way in?"

Flora nodded. "Pretty much. This was designed to be more like a fort than anything else. We have to go through here, through the barracks, and through a tunnels in the jail to reach the Inner Cloister."

Erris groaned. "Not another underground tunnel. I hate those. All filled with zombies and red-skinned demons and bugs."

"You mean the fallen ones?" Garou interjected.

"Whatever. I just hate it. Nasty little things." The amazon shuddered.

Ron Bars had stepped up to the massive doors, and placed his shoulders against them. Then he shoved with all his strength. Unfortunately, the doors weren't barred, or even closed properly. So the poor barbarian went flying into the entry hall, bowling over two Fallen. The Shaman quickly started trading fire bolts with Jezebel, but the weak monsters were quickly routed.

Flora sighed. "I suppose we should get to the armory and pick up the Horadric Malus for Charsi." As the rogue led the way, monsters seemed to spring from the walls around them. Waves of Fallen Ones, skeletons and zombies, and more corrupted rogues were slowly mowed down by arrow, magic, and brute force.

Finally the group had to stop, blockading the door in a small room. "Well, Flora?" Tharos asked. "How much further do we have to go?"

The tired mercenary sighed. "The armory isn't too far ahead. But if these demons know the Malus is there, there'll be some stronger demon guarding it. Then we have to back track a little way to reach the Jail entrance."

The others sighed, except for Ron Bars, who was already snoring in a corner. Erris nodded. "Alright then, lets split up and take two hour watches." The group slowly settled in, and slept the night away.

When they awoke, the outside halls were eerily quiet. They all rose, trying to stay hushed, and pulled the large desk away from the door. Outside, the halls of the barracks were deserted. Moving slowly, Flora led the way towards the armory and the Malus.

As they grew closer, they could hear the rhythmic sounds of the hammer against metal, and soon the pumping sounds of the bellows. They crept up to the open doorway, and saw the man at the anvil, pounding away. The huge, red skinned demon seemed somehow familiar, but no one got a chance to ponder it.

With a loud shout, Ron Bars jumped into the room, brandishing his axes. With an equally loud shout, Griswold turned from the anvil, waving his hammer angrily. The others all screamed, and the tortured blacksmith screamed back.

Then the battle began in earnest, with barbarian, druid, paladin, and assassin all fighting against the blacksmith. But the smith's powerful blows knocked them back again and again, and he shrugged off magic and arrows like raindrops.

Finally, Tharos ran around to the back of the room. His last skeleton picked up a pair of tongs, and lifted a large coal from the forge fires. Wobbling unsteadily, the skeleton walked towards Griswold, and slammed the coal into his back.

As Griswold screamed in pain, the others attacked him all at once. Axes split his sides, an arm broke from the mace, and sword and katar sliced open Griswold's legs. As they stood back, the blacksmith slowly toppled, the Malus falling from his hands.

They stood there for several minutes, watching the body bleed, before Erris carefully stepped forward and picked up the magical hammer. With another shudder, she wiped it free of his blood, and the group silently left the armory.

As they reached the stairs down to the jail, Oksana suddenly stopped. "Wait a minute!" she cried excitedly. As the others all looked around for danger, she started laughing. "We just completed a quest without something going wrong!"

They all looked at each other in astonishment. But as they started to cheer, a loud shout from the direction of the Armory stole their excitement. "Oh crap, we didn't kill him," Rupert wailed. "Hurry, let's get out of here before he finds us!"

With Flora again in the lead, they rushed deeper into the Jail.

They stopped again, hours later, three floors down in the Jail. The group waited at the start of a hallway while Flora tried to remember the correct path. The rogue finally shrugged. "There's two hallways. One leads to a weapon stash, the other is the staircase back up to the inner cloister."

Erris perked up. "A weapon stash? Why do you keep a weapon stash in the middle of a jail? I mean, aren't you worried about prisoners escaping?"

Flora shook her head. "We don't actually get many prisoners. But when the monastery was designed, this was expected to be a defensive fort for the surrounding area. So during times of war, the Order would have someplace to put the prisoners."

Garou shook his head sadly. "Well, let's try this hallway first."

The group moved quietly, weary arms holding blood-stained weapons. But for a change, this part of the Jail was deserted. The soon reached the end, and from Flora's sigh, it was apparent they had chosen the wrong hallway. "Nope, this was the weapon stash."

Rupert shrugged. "Why not check it out? There might still be some good weapons or armor in there."

Jezebel rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. These demons all seem pretty well outfitted, so I'm betting there's nothing in there."

Garou smiled, and pushed on the still-locked door. "Fallen can't pick locks. Or open most doors." He made a mock bow to Oksana. "Would you mind?"

The assassin pulled a small lock pick from somewhere in her clothing, and quickly opened the door. The group crowded inside to check their findings.

At first, it appeared that they had found the motherlode. But further inspection showed that most of the weapons and armor were useless. The weapons were rusty and nicked, a suit of chainmail had started to rust away, and a shield had a crack through it. Ron Bars opened a chest in the back corner, pulling out moth-eaten padding and cracked leather.

Erris sighed unhappily. "So much for better equipment." The barbarian kicked the chest angrily.

Dejected, the group headed back into the jail, finally locating the staircase up to the Inner Cloister and the open air. As they prepared a small campsite, Erris looked at the Malus and sighed again. "We should get this back to Charsi, but I don't want to have to go back through all of this to reach the rogue camp."

Jezebel sighed as well, dropping her staff and sitting on an old barrel. "Too bad we don't have a scroll of Town Portal. Then we could just teleport back."

The barbarian grunted. "Ron Bars find." From inside the handle of one axe, he pulled out a rolled up scroll and handed it to the sorceress.

She squealed excitedly. "Where did you find this?"

He grunted. "In desk in Jail. Ron Bars not read."

As the others gathered around, Jezebel read off the runes. A large blue portal slowly opened, and through it they could see the rogue encampment. Jezebel touched each person in turn, sending them through the portal, until they all stood at the center of the camp.

Akara, Kashya, and Cain all looked over in surprise. "Holy crap, they're still alive!" Kashya blurted out.

Erris waved the Malus in the air. "And we got this back for Charsi, too."

Rupert looked at the amazon nervously. "Of course, Griswold is now somewhere in the Monastery …"

Erris grabbed the paladin by the hair and glared at him. "Shut up," she growled.

Charsi wandered over, and gladly took her Malus back. "Like, this is so totally cool!" she gushed. "Like, now I can give stuff magical powers. You guys, like, want some better stuff?"

The group let out a loud cry of "Yes!" With newly enchanted equipment, they all bedded down for the night, resting up to make their way down through the catacombs the next day.

As the sun rose the next morning, the adventurers again prepared themselves. The blue, shimmering portal stood quiet, swirling silently. Jezebel stood next to it, touching each one as they stepped through the portal in turn.

The courtyard of the Inner Cloister was silent as well. The massive doors to the Cathedral lay open, the inside shrouded in darkness. Slowly the group edged forward, stepping gingerly into the darkness.

Inside the Cathedral was a massacre. The once beautiful windows had been blacked out with dried blood, and stone coffins from the catacombs had been dragged up and placed in rows, replacing the pews. As they moved forward, they could see the remains of a human sacrifice still laying on the altar, chest torn open and organs missing.

Flora started shivering uncontrollable at the sight, and Rupert quickly moved to comfort her. But before he had even touched her, the tortured shriek of sliding marble echoed through the church. The coffins behind them slid open, zombies and skeletons came shambling forward. From the choir room in the back, stepped forth a different looking skeleton, this one dressed in a caricature of priestly robes.

The new skeleton lifted a hand, and summoned up a ball of sickly looking green light. Even as the undead moved to attack, Tharos screamed "Duck!" But beset by monsters, the ball of green light struck Jezebel squarely. Even as two arrows parted the skeleton from his head the sorceress collapsed to the ground.

The simple undead were no match for the heroes, but as the last zombie fell, the others gathered anxiously around the shaking sorceress. "She's having some kind of seizure!"

Tharos nodded. "I know! That skeleton threw some kind of advanced poison spell at her."

Erris grabbed his arm. "Well, do something, necromancer!"

He scowled back. "I can't! Curing poison isn't a spell that I know!"

Ron Bars came striding back in from the courtyard, holding something in his hand that dripped blood. Pushing the others aside, he forced open Jezebel's mouth and let the blood and other fluids drip into her mouth. The others simply stood and watched, uncertain whether or not to interfere. But after swallowing a small bit of the strange mixture, the sorceress stirred, looking up at the barbarian and what he held.

With a strangled noise, Jezebel rolled away, staggering to an open coffin, puking into it. Ron Bars stared at her for a moment, then lifted the heart and took a bite out of it. As the others made sounds of disgust, Erris glared at him. "No wonder they call you savages and barbarians. You'll never be civilized with behavior like that."

The barbarian smiled, teeth gleaming redly. "Ron Bars save," he boomed, stabbing the air with a finger. "You dumb woman, maybe Ron Bars save you too."

Garou laughed, clapping the barbarian on the back. "With a diet like that no wonder your people are known for being able to survive anything!"

Once Jezebel was back on her feet, the group slowly approached the stairs at the back of the Cathedral. Flora stepped up, peering down the winding stairway. "Everything started down there," she said, pointing down. "Those catacombs are where most of the Sisterhood has been buried for centuries. One day, a huge group of undead and demons just came pouring up the stairs, right in the middle of Mass. I mean, before that, there had been occasional rare zombies and skeletons, any large graveyard does. But they just rose all at once …"

With slightly more foreboding, the group started down the staircase, Ron Bars and Flora in the lead.

Two floors down in the catacombs, the group again found a small room with a single door to hole up in. Oksana sighed, flopping down tiredly to the floor. "Good grief, I didn't expect there to be this many demons down here," she complained.

Garou snorted. "Well, they are, and every one we kill means one less the Sisterhood has to deal with when we're gone." The assassin shrugged, and opened a small pouch, assembling more firebombs.

Rupert also sat down, leaning tiredly against the wall as he started to clean the blood and gore from his scepter. "I didn't think these catacombs were so huge! I mean," he stopped waving his weapon for emphasis, "we must have spent at least two hours, wandering through that first floor trying to find a bloody staircase or at least a hole in the floor."

"Ron Bars make hole?" The barbarian hefted a bloody axe and looked at the paladin curiously.

Erris glared at him angrily, unstringing her bow. "No, you blundering oaf, not with those. You'd just break your axes trying to cut a hole through solid rock." The amazon turned her attention back to her weapon, running an oily rag up and down the wood before attaching a new bowstring.

Rupert looked back at their mercenary. "How far down do we have to go, anyway?"

Flora shrugged. "I'm not sure. I know there's at least four levels. The bottom one is the newest; I remember hearing Akara talking about the digging to open it up."

Jezebel nodded. "The bottom floor it is then."

Erris glared at the sorceress. "Who died and made you boss?"

Garou held up a calming hand. "She's probably right. Andarial is most likely to be on the bottom floor."

The others all stared at him in horror. "How do you know one of the Prime Evils is down there?" Oksana squeaked.

The druid looked around in disbelief. "Didn't any of you talk to Cain again after we brought him back to camp?" They all shook their heads. "Oh, for goodness sake … look, I shared a pint with Cain last night before bed. Once he loosened up, he said that Andarial is probably behind this, especially if Diablo has escaped from Tristram."

Tharos looked aghast. "Of course, send the Lady of Poison to destroy the Sisters, one of the largest forces for good. That way he prevents anyone from reaching Mephisto or Baal before he does!"

Oksana shivered. "But, how does Diablo even know where to find his brothers?"

Jezebel spoke slowly, as though reciting from memory. "The first to be captured was Mephisto, Lord of Hatred. He was bound within the Soulstone and given to the Council of Zakarum to be hidden forever. Second to be captured was Baal, Lord of Destruction. With his Soulstone broken, Baal was imprisoned in the body of Tal Rasha and buried beneath the desert sands."

Erris closed her eyes. "So that means Diablo was captured last, and knows at least the general area to find his brothers." She quickly clambered to her feet, drawing another arrow and readying her bow. "We should get moving again."

The others rose as well, and silently moved back into the catacombs.

Several more hours, and another floor later, the group finally found another staircase down. This one seemed rougher, though, and the steps were not worn smooth from use. They all crowded around the top of the stairs, looking down into the darkness. Tharos slowly nodded, looking at Flora. "This does look like the new area," he murmured.

The rogue nodded, and slowly started down the stairs. As the group followed, they all glanced about, constantly looking back up the stairs, trying to peer through the darkness below.

Soon they reached the bottom of the staircase, and stepped out into a larger room. It was dimly lit by small fires, and tears fell from Flora's face as she saw the charred corpses of other rogues tied to blackened stakes above them. From another room they could hear the high pitched shouting of Fallen Ones, and at the other end of the room ghouls shambled through the smoky air.

Tharos quickly grabbed the rogue, slapping a hand over her mouth as she tried to dash forward. "Be still," he hissed angrily. "We want to strike with surprise if we can." The necromancer looked around, nodding quietly to Rupert.

Slowly the paladin edged along a wall, growing slowly closer to one of the bonfires. From beneath his cloak, the paladin drew out a waterskin, and poured it over the burning wood. With a great hiss, the fire extinguished, throwing a cloud of steam and sparks into the air, and the paladin crept back to the group.

Silently Rupert traced on the floor an outline of the room. Tharos studied it and nodded. "There's that door here," he pointed, "leading to the next room with the fallen ones. Someone has to get up there and scout out the next room. And quietly, we don't want those ghouls coming after us!"

Erris quickly took off her chain mail, and laid it with her bow and quiver against the wall. Tucking her blond hair into her tunic, the amazon crept along the rough-cut wall to the doorway, carefully pushing open the broken wood. As the others watched with concern, she vanished into the next room.

For several minutes they waited, trading concerned glances. More than once, Rupert started toward the doorway himself, only to be restrained by Tharos' hand. But finally Erris reappeared, skulking along the wall back to them. In silence, she added onto Rupert's drawing.

"This next room is big. There's a set of double doors here, and all those devilkin seem scared of it. This corner," she marked a small 'X' "is almost completely in darkness. And it's right inside the door. There's also several stacks of crates," she drew lines inside the room, "that will give us cover."

Tharos studied the map for a few seconds then nodded. "Okay, here's what we do. Oksana …"

One by one, the group crept into the next room and into the darkened corner. Last in line, Oksana paused at the doorway, weighing several firebombs in her hand. Then leaning back through the doorway, she threw them towards the ghouls and the other fires in the back.

As the large explosion ripped through the entrance hall, the assassin dived for cover in the darkness. The devilkin screamed, all of them rushing out of the room to discover who was intruding on their domain. But as the last one went through the door, Ron Bars staggered forward, dropping several crates to block the door. Quickly behind him came two animated skeleton, Tharos waving his wand to direct them.

As the adventurers started to congratulate each other, the large double doors boomed open. Andariel, the Maiden of Anguish, strode into the room, her demonic eyes scanning the room. At her feet followed one of the Tainted, the six-foot demon rising barely to her waist.

"Come out, tasty adventurers," Andariel hissed, her voice echoing through the room.

The group held as still as they could, fighting not to shake with fear or anger. Andariel's gaze swept through the room again, bright red dots against her green skin. But even her eyes could not see through the smoke filled air, into the darkest corner, and slowly she turned back to her chamber, scratching the Tainted as a human would a dog.

Flora lifted her bow, silently drawing back an arrow. Before the doors could close, the rogue whispered, "Catch this, bitch," and let the arrow fly. It sped across the room, stabbing into her back.

The demoness screamed in anger, spinning around. The bony limbs on her back framed her like broken wings, and she threw green, poisonous light out into the room.

In the light, both Flora and Erris lined up their shots, but the arrows were batted out of the air. The Tainted rushed forward, only to fall in midstride with an axe buried in its head. And the adventurers squared off against the Maiden of Anguish, faces set and weapons held grimly.

"Foolish mortals," Andariel crooned, "Do you really think that you are the ones Tyreal chose to stop Diablo?" She laughed, the suffocating sound reverberating from the walls. "Oh no, silly humans. Belial, the Lord of Lies, has such a long reach into your world!"

Flora scowled up, and spat. "Chosen or not, you're going to die for what you've done here!" Ron Bars gave a warcry, and charged forward. Garou howled, his form rippling and fur tearing forth. Tharos' skeletons shambled forward, lifting rusty weapons. Jezebel waved her hands, summoning lightning and fire, and Oksana readied her firebombs as Flora and Erris let fly a rain of arrows.

But Andariel brushed away the arrows, shattering the skeletons with a sweep of her arm as she strode forward. Even as twin axes split her flesh, and the werewolf bit her, the demoness laughed, throwing out a cloud of poisonous gas. Rupert stumbled in his charge, dropping his scepter to the floor as he collapsed, heaving.

Jezebel stepped forward then, throwing a pair of lightning bolts at the demoness, but Andariel seemed unharmed by the attack, lifting a charred rogue corpse and flinging it. Though she tried to dodge, the sorceress was struck and hurled to the floor.

Tharos scowled, waving his wand and incanting, throwing curses at Andariel. But they seemed to slide off her like rain. Oksana ran forward, hurling her last trap and leaping over the coughing druid. But Andariel swatted her out of the air like a bug, casting the assassin across the room to crash into crates.

For several precious seconds, the room was held in an uneasy balance - Ron Bars swinging at Andariel, as the demoness fought off arrows and curses as well. But finally she landed a lucky blow, tossing the barbarian across the room to fall next to the sorceress.

Tharos screamed as Andariel kicked him out of the way, crashing into a wall and sliding to the floor. Even as she strode towards the archers, Flora and Erris continued to fire until Andariel had reached and battered them, too, into submission. Supreme, the demoness gazed at the fallen heroes and started to laugh again.

"Get away from them you bitch!" The rough voice echoed through the room, and Andariel turned around to regard Rupert curiously. The paladin kneeled at the edge of a brackish pool of water, the natural well the Fallen had polluted during their stay. But Rupert swayed unsteadily, and Andariel strode forward confidently to finish him off.

Rupert waited until she was halfway across the pool, then dropped his arm and touched the surface of the pool, calling upon the angels in prayer. Andariel shrieked, lunging forward, but with a crackle, the water purified in a rapid circle from the paladin's hand. He dropped to the floor, her hand missing him by inches as the holy water dissolved her mortal body.

As the Lady of Poison disappeared under the surface, Rupert rose unsteadily to his feet. He staggered across the room to Ron Bars, falling atop the barbarian and rousing him from unconsciousness. "Poison," Rupert muttered as he collapsed.

Ron Bars crawled over to the dead Tainted, pulling out his axe and slitting open the body. With a small knife, he cut out several organs, mixing the fluids and gulping some down. Shuddering, the barbarian rose again, antidote mixing into his blood. "Nasty stuff that," he said to himself, glancing around. "I suppose I should rouse the rest of them, too."

He started toward the paladin, then carefully looked at the group again. "Stay focused, idiot!" he muttered to himself. "Stay in character."

One by one, the barbarian checked on his fellows, administering antidote and helping them to their feet. Once recovered, Rupert also prayed for each, giving magical healing. As the group stood wearily, Erris looked around the room. "What happened? Did Andariel leave us for dead?"

Rupert turned red, and glared at her angrily. "I don't want to talk about it."

The others looked at him suspiciously. "I said I'm not talking about it."

Oksana shook her head and giggled. "So modest, cute boy." She leaned forward as if to kiss him, but the blushing paladin retreated.

Tharos frowned, looking at the crystalline pool at the center of the room. "Say, was this water so clear before?"

Rupert roared, "I don't want to talk about it!" at the top of his lungs.

As the others laughed at him, a moan came from Andariel's room. The adventurers quieted, looking at the doorway in anticipation. Another moan came. "That sounds familiar," Garou muttered, flexing his returned-to-human limbs.

As Griswold stepped through the door, the group all screamed, rushing for the exit. "Unblock the door," Erris shrieked.

"There's an army of devilkin out there, remember?" Tharos shouted back, even as Ron Bars started throwing boxes around.

"I don't care!" she screamed back, even as the doorway cleared. In a frantic rush, the group of eight poured into the room, trampling Fallen Ones in their break for the stairs and freedom.

Back in the room, Griswold stopped, lowering the massive axe he held. With a curious moan, the blacksmith looked around the room, finally settling his gaze on the pool of holy water. When he screamed, his cry of rage could be heard all the way to the Monastery gates.

A day later, the group finally trooped back into the Rogue Encampment. To their great surprise, the entire camp broke out into loud cheers, waving brightly colored ribbons. As the bewildered heroes trooped over to a smiling Akara, Garou finally asked, "How did you know?"

Akara laughed happily. "I am an accomplished mage, you know. We watched the whole thing in my scrying pool. Congratulations, Rupert," she said, putting a wreath of flowers around his neck. "Truly, I never believed that you would show such imagination and resourcefulness in defeating Andariel!"

The paladin turned a darker shade of red, glaring angrily at Akara. As he started to open his mouth to shout at her, Flora wrapped her arms around him and kissed him soundly. "You saved our home! You're a hero! And if you argue about it, I'll send you back after Griswold."

Rupert wisely kept his mouth shut, and as the sun began to set, the encampment prepared for a celebration. Tharos sat next to Oksana by the fire, handing her a glass of wine. They clinked glasses together. "Who would have thought that we could take part in banishing one of the Prime Evils?" he asked, slowly taking a sip.

The assassin laughed, watching one of the rogues pull an unwilling Rupert up to dance. "Yeah, I could even get back into the Viz-Jaq'taar training schools now, if I wanted." She gulped down some wine, watching the festivities around them.

Tharos followed her gaze and smiled sadly. "Good thing the big hero of the moment is so unwilling. Let's us second-rate heroes get more attention."

Oksana smiled coyly, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, second rate, hmm?" She bounded to her feet, grabbing Tharos by the hand and dragging him after her around the fire.

"Hey, wait a minute, that's my wagon!" Warriv's complaint went unheard as the assassin pulled closed the wagon door behind them.

In the morning, as the caravan prepared to travel eastward through the cleared pass, Erris looked around in confusion, counting. Finally, she stopped Rupert as the paladin helped load supplies. "Where are Garou and Ron Bars?"

The others stopped to look around as well. Jezebel scratched her head. "I know they were here last night. Garou was drinking with Cain when I crawled into my blankets."

As they started to search the encampment, one of the rogue guards gave out a cry. The other five heroes rushed to the gate. Up the hill came Garou and Ron Bars, rolling a huge wooden cask. Erris groaned. "Oh no, not that wine …"

The druid and barbarian staggered into camp, letting the cask roll to a stop against a wagon. "Don't worry, we didn't *hic* drink too much," Garou slurred. Ron Bars simply belched, his breath wilting a patch of grass.

Warriv looked at the giant cask. "Either you two are pushing that the whole way, or it stays here."

Garou and Ron Bars looked at each other. In drunken unison, they shouted, "Push!"


	4. Act 2: Radament, and the Staff

**Act Two**

Tyrael strode boldly into the open tomb of Tal Rasha. The Dark Wanderer, the poor mortal who had defeated Diablo, and then become him, turned around. Tal Rasha was still bound to the pillar, the magical wards keeping Baal chained. "Tyrael," he whispered, "what an unexpected surprise to see you here."

Tyrael held his ground, saying nothing as he watched the warrior cross the bridge back to him. "Not an angel of many words, are you?" The two stood there for a moment, eye to eye. "Finally decided to give up on these lowly humans and do the job yourself?" Diablo laughed sarcastically.

Still Tyrael said nothing, simply raising a hand and conjuring a blade of pure white light. The Wanderer stepped backwards, raising a hand to shade his eyes, but not as far as Tyrael had expected. "Still, these mortals have some advantages over you."

With a sudden explosion, Tyrael was knocked from his feet, lurching sideways into one of the walls. When the angel looked up, three of the Prime Evils confronted him. "So I was too late after all," he lamented, straightening proudly. The demons snarled, and the battle was fierce but brief.

Briefly, Tyrael lamented that angels could not lose consciousness, as they chained him to the pillar where Baal had so recently been kept. Duriel laughed, frosty fetid breath washing over the angel's face. Baal smirked from the other side of the bridge, waiting as Diablo and Duriel joined him. "Sorry we can't stay and chat, Tyrael, but we have to visit our other brother."

They turned away, moving towards the exit, but Tyrael's whisper cut through the air like an arrow. "Why did you choose the darkness so long ago, Baal?"

The eldest and most powerful of the Prime Evil stopped, looking over his shoulder in contempt. "We knew, you and I, that from the beginning of time this battle must be fought. And if I must choose a side, I would rather be a Lord in my own realm than anything less under you."

They exited the chamber, leaving Tyrael hanging there, chained to the pillar, trapped like an insect in amber.

Several weeks later, Warriv's caravan stopped at the gates of Lut Gholein. Mercenary guards, all dressed with a red badge, warily searched the caravan with long spears and shields always at hand. But at last, the guards stood aside, waving the caravan into the city.

They traveled not far, pulling the wagons into a semi-circle in an open plaza. As the adventurers started to unload goods from the wagons, Lord Jehryn approached the train with guards in tow. "Warriv, welcome back. Thank goodness you've arrived. We've been waiting for weeks."

The two friends talked for several minutes about the affairs at the Sister's monastery, before Jehryn turned his attention to the group of seven heroes. "So Warriv, tell me about these heroes you bring with you."

The trader chuckled. "Well, they may not look like much, but they not only rescued Deckard Cain from the ruins of Tristram. They cleared out most of the Monastery, and banished Andariel back to Hell." He carefully pointed to Rupert, carefully organizing crates and barrels of goods. "The paladin there dealt the final blow, but they were all in on the fight."

Jehryn nodded, watching each one in turn. But soon the unloading was complete, and the adventurers crowded around Warriv to meet the leader of Lut Gholein. "Welcome, heroes. I hope you can do such a good job here. The deserts outside our walls have been growling thicker with monsters. Your caravan is the first in many months."

Tharos nodded. "Trust me, we noticed. The last two days we've slain dozens of giant bugs."

Jehryn nodded, narrowing his eyes at the necromancer. "Indeed. At any rate, you might want to talk with Atma. She runs the tavern on the northern side of the city. I also suspect that Greiz, the mercenary captain, will want to speak to you as well."

Jehryn turned and walked away towards the palace, and the group slowly turned towards the north side of the city. They passed dozens of small merchants, most set up on nothing more than a folding table, hawking wares. Garou stopped at one stall to sniff in disdain at the stuffed Moose head and carved ebony bird.

Near the center of the marketplace stood Cain, sitting on the edge of a large stone well, telling tales to a group of excited children. But they turned aside, stopping at another booth. "Hey there, I'm Lysander! I can serve all your potion needs, for Jews or Gentiles! All potions made with completely kosher ingredients!"

Erris and Tharos shared a look of confusion. "What the heck does kosher mean?" the amazon asked.

Garou just shook his head, pushing them through the crowd. "Keep moving, ignore Mel Brooks." The necromancer glanced back once more though, reading the sign over his stall displaying, "All circumcisions - half off!" and winced.

After a tiring walk through the marketplace, and several streets of sunbleached homes, the group finally reached the tavern that Jehryn had spoken of. The main room was fairly well packed, with several off-duty guards and many townsfolk taking a break from the scorching heat of midsummer.

Behind the bar stood a sad-looking woman, dressed all in black, pouring drinks and serving strips of lamb and fish to the customers. Garou's eyes lit up at the sight of the kegs behind the counter, but the crush of patrons inside was too thick to force their way to the bar.

Jezebel finally managed to get everyone's attention. "Let's come back later," she shouted over the bustle. "When it's less crowded." Slowly, the five forced their way back to the slightly less crowded streets.

After a little more wandering, and some directions from red-tunic guards, they saw a man standing on a corner, dressed up as a military commander. While his clothes looked designed for a ball at the palace, the spear he carried was still fresh with blood. As they approached, they saw him tense, and spear another rat, casually tossing it off the spear behind him.

"Ah, you must be those heroes everyone in town is talking about." He held out a hand in greetings. "My name's Griez. Most of the mercenaries you see around here are my men. Yep, we're the only ones who can keep law and order in this town, not like …" His voice slowly faded away into silence, though his mouth kept moving. Finally Jezebel reached over and tapped him. "Hmm? You had a question?"

Jezebel looked at him oddly. "Well, your voice sort of faded away."

Griez groaned. "Curses! There's a tribe of Claw Vipers, fairly far out in the desert, but we passed them on our way here. Damn beasts cursed me, so whenever I start to go off on a monologue my voice just disappears. It's really not fair, with all the places I've been, to not be able to talk about them. Like that battle in …"

The group slowly conferred as Greiz silently prattled on. "This guy is a looney," Erris muttered.

Oksana licked her lips. "I dunno, men in uniforms look yummy."

Rupert groaned. "Whatever. He's a mercenary captain, let's see if we can hire a soldier who knows the area fairly well."

They turned back to Greiz, Jezebel tapping his arm again. "Mister Greiz, do you have any soldiers we could hire, who know the area pretty well?"

The captain nodded. "Of course, you must be going after Radament!" At their blank looks he tried to explain. "The undead leader down in the sewers? Eating lots of townfolk until my soldiers started guarding the sewer entrances. Yeah, he'll be a tough one to get out of there, just like …"

Erris smacked his arm impatiently. "What? Oh, right, soldier." Greiz whistled piercingly, and waited. A few moments later, a soldier waddled out of the barracks behind the captain. The new soldier was so fat he looked round enough to roll, and was dressed in a garishly orange cloak, with the hood pulled up over his head. "Here you go, Kenny will go with you."

In astonishment, the group stared at Kenny. Erris whirled back on Greiz. "That bucket of lard? What good is he in a fight?"

As Greiz started to open his mouth to respond, the sewer trapdoors near him burst open. Several skeletons clattered out, the one in the lead firing an arrow that swiftly buried itself in Kenny's head. In perfect unison, every soldier within sight cried, "Oh my God, they killed Kenny! You bastards!"

In a frantic rush, the soldiers all charged the trapdoor, battering skeletons apart with their spears and shields. As the last one fell, the soldiers closed the trapdoors and returned to their normal activities.

Tharos looked at Kenny in shock. "Well, so much for a mercenary."

Greiz waved a hand airily. "Oh no, don't worry. He'll be up and about in a few minutes. The Claw Vipers cursed him that he can't die, poor bugger." Indeed, as they watched, the arrow slowly was forced from his flesh, the wound closing and healing.

With their new mercenary in tow, the group of heroes returned to the central marketplace. Garou and Tharos looked at each other. "Ever get the impression that you were trapped in a really bad story?" the druid asked.

The necromancer nodded. "Sometimes. Like right now. Why do you ask?"

Garou sighed. "Well, when this is all over, I want a big reward. Either the author's life, or a bottomless cask of wine."

Hearing the last part, Jezebel snorted. "I still can't believe the two of you drank a cask five times your size in two days."

Ron Bars grinned. "Ron Bars drink well!" he boomed.

As the afternoon wore on, the sweating adventurers stumbled back into Atma's tavern. Off in a corner, a loud drunk was shouting out a drunken tale of his exploits. But the group ignored him, Ron Bars pushing a way through the smaller crowd to a large table. After a few minutes, Atma came over to their table. "Greetings, adventurers. What may I do for you?"

They quickly ordered meals, but before Atma could turn away, Rupert asked her, "I've heard something about you, and a monster in the sewers named Radament?"

She nodded sadly, adjusting the black veil that held her hair in place. "Yes. He is a horrible monster. Some weeks ago, shortly after nightfall, my husband and son were returning from the marketplace with more supplies for the tavern. Radament and a score of skeletons came out of the sewers, slaying some people and dragging others down to the sewers with them."

Erris frowned. "How is it that everyone knows this monster's name?"

"Fara, the blacksmith in the main square, is a follower of Zakarum. She and Drognan, the lord's advisor, did some research after Radament appeared, and named the beast. That was when Lord Jehryn hired Griez and his mercenaries to keep order in the town."

With a small bow, Atma left the group. Tharos drummed his fingers on the tabletop. "After we eat, let's try to find this Drognan. He will probably know more about the nature of Radament."

Jezebel scoffed at him. "What, the powerful necromancer doesn't know the nature of the dead?"

He smiled thinly. "Jezebel, there are at least a dozen different kinds of undead that have to eat living human flesh to continue their existence. Since Drognan already seems to know which kind it is, I prefer to ask him, so that we may prepare ourselves ahead of time."

As the two argued, Garou tapped Ron Bars on the shoulder, pointing at the large casks behind the bar. "Bet you a hundred gold that I can drink one of those before you."

The barbarian laughed. "Ron Bars drink well!" he boomed, as the two prepared to raid the wine stocks.

But Oksana and Erris grabbed them, and forced them back to their seats. "No more drinking for you two!" the assassin admonished. "Or have you forgotten there's a man-eating giant zombie in the sewers?"

"Ron Bars kill!" Oksana simply rolled her eyes and sighed.

But he fell silent as Atma returned, pushing a small cart and revealing their meals. As they started to eat, Atma managed to get their attention. "If you are truly here to help the city, as the rumors say, then there is no harm in my asking.

"I do not expect this of you, but …"

Tharos handed a lit torch to one of his skeletons, and descended into the sewers, holding his nose. The others followed after him, trooping down the narrow, muck-covered stairs into the smelly darkness. "Tharos, are you sure we're prepared for this?" Erris asked him.

He just nodded. "Yep. Drognan explained it to me."

Rupert looked around the narrow tunnels. "So how do we kill Radament then?"

Tharos chuckled darkly. "Same way you kill any other undead. Hit it until it stops moving, hit it some more for good measure, then sprinkle some salt on it."

Jezebel sighed, trying to avoid stepping in anything. "You make it sound so simple," she muttered.

The group turned a corner, coming face to face with a large pack of red-colored skeletons. "Burning dead!" Tharos cried as his skeletons clattered forward to shield him. Ron Bars charged forward, but stopped as a burning arrow clanged from his helm.

Kenny lumbered forward as well, holding his spear out. But one of the skeletons just stepped aside, tripping the mercenary and watching as Kenny impaled himself on his own spear.

But the battle was quickly over, Erris firing arrows of cold into the ranks of skeletons. She snorted at the impaled Kenny. "I still say we should go back and ask for a different merc."

Garou shrugged. "Why? He'll do well enough. As long as he distracts the enemies long enough for us to get in the first blow, does it matter?"

With a sigh, the group waited until Kenny had recovered, and set about exploring for the bottom level of the sewers.

Two floor, several piles of sewage, and many hordes of skeletons and decaying zombies later, they found the bottom floor. Oksana stopped, looking at a wall for a moment, before starting to use her katar to clear away some of the grime. The others stopped to look over her shoulder.

Etched into the wall was a rough outline of a book or a box, and an arrow pointing deeper into the sewers. With several cautious glances around, the group slowly walked deeper into the tunnels. They followed the direction of the arrow, finding more etchings in the walls to guide them further.

Finally, Rupert halted the group, gathering them into a small circle. "Doesn't it seem odd that there aren't any undead down here?" he whispered. They all shared worried looks, but against followed the arrows deeper into the sewers.

Then from up ahead came the glow of torchlight. The group slowed, taking the torches from Tharos' skeletons and grinding them out. The necromancer crept up to the corner of the wall, carefully peering around it.

In a small chamber, several burning dead stood there, holding torches. Sitting on a rough crate was Radament, or at least that's what Tharos assumed. But the undead leader did not appear human any longer - one arm had been replaced with a scythe blade, and the head had been transformed into that of a jackal. And on his lap was a great tome, that Radament was softly reading to himself.

Tharos stopped to consider for a moment, then made a gesture with his hand. His two skeletons clattered forward, walking into the chamber. As the necromancer had thought, Radament paid no attention to his minions. Not until his skeletons stepped up and shattered two of the burning dead.

Radament slammed the book closed, rising to his feet. As the undead leader stepped forward, one of Tharos' skeletons flipped him the finger. With a roar of anger, Radament slashed with his scythe-arm, shattering one skeleton. Tharos promptly raised another one, turning it against the burning dead.

This game went on for several minutes, Tharos and Radament fighting by proxy with the skeletons. But finally Tharos waved Erris forward, whispering to her as he controlled his minions. "Get an arrow ready with this," he murmured, handing her a salt crystal. "When he turns this way, shoot him in the chest."

As the others watched, Erris quickly replaced the arrowhead with the salt crystal, testing the balance before preparing her bow. As she pulled back the string, Tharos had one of his skeletons stab Radament in the back, causing the undead leader to spin around. Erris quickly let fly, and the arrow burst on his chest, showering Radament with tiny shards of salt.

The giant undead staggered for a moment, moaning as the salt crystals sucked away his magical life. Then, with a crash, and a cloud of poisonous vapors, he dropped to the floor, the withered body disintegrating.

With a few more arrows, and a lightning bolt from Jezebel, the last of the burning dead fell. Tharos' last skeleton came clattering back, holding forth the tome, and they all gathered around to read it. But as they flipped through the first few pages, none of them recognized the language it was written in.

Garou tapped the book. "Let's take this back to Cain. He might be able to read it." Munin cawed agreement, and the group turned around to head back to the surface.

The adventurers trooped back onto the city streets, to the amazement of all who stood near the docks. Some of the people cheered, but most just looked at the group in astonishment. Finally they reached the tavern, and Atma stood outside waiting for them. "Is it true? Is Radament dead?"

Tharos nodded silently. Drognan also stepped out of the tavern. "You did make sure to cut him down before you applied the salt, didn't you?"

"Well, actually, oof!" Rupert cut off as Erris elbowed him sharply. "Of course we did," the amazon continued.

Just then, a roar sounded from the sewer entrance near the docks, sounding too much like the undead they had left behind. Cursing, the adventurers rushed back towards the dock, Garou and Erris rolling Kenny along after the mercenary tripped.

As they came in sight of the docks, they could see Radament standing there, controlling almost three score undead, battling with Griez' beleaguered men. But Erris winked at Garou, and with a final shove, they hurled the rolling Kenny straight into the crowd of skeletons.

With several crashes, Kenny bowled straight through the bony ranks and into Radament, launching them both into the air, off the side of the docks, and out into the ocean. As the undead hit the salty water, his body shattered, the bones dissolving into the sea. Without the leader to guide them, and with Oksana and Ron Bars merrily joining the melee, the other skeletons were quickly turned into little piles of splinters.

Drognan finally limped up to them, shaking his staff at Erris. "You said he was dead already!"

She shrugged. "Hey, not my fault. We threw salt at him, he fell down and didn't get back up. Now we now for sure he's dead."

Lysander covered his eyes with one hand. "Oi Vey," he muttered.

Away from the group, Atma looked out to sea where Radament had fallen in. She whispered something, then turned and walked up to the adventurers with tears in her eyes. "Thank you for providing me with vengeance. I have talked to all the merchants, and they have agreed to offer you reduced prices on their goods and services."

From the back of the crowd, Lysander muttered, "And don't think we're not regretting it, either."

Drognan shot the apothecary a dark look, and he subsided as Atma continued. "At any rate, I believe Lord Jehryn will likely want to speak with you again. You can find him at the palace.

The group approached the palace, set into the wealthier corner of the city. Here, the streets were more uniformly paved, and the citizens they passed wore finer clothes, even silk for many. Finally they reached the open plaza in front of the palace, with several of the royal guards posted around the square.

They all stopped to stare at the gleaming structure. Gold and brightly covered ceramic mosaics covered the entire building, showing pictures of the history of the city and people of Lut Gholein. The spires above flew several banners, and more guards stood on the balconies, their spears or swords held tightly with pride.

"Shiny," Ron Bars said, in a quieter voice than usual. Jezebel snorted, poking the barbarian in the ribs. The group slowly mounted the marble steps leading to the palace entrance. A decorated guard stood outside, holding his spear sideways to block the doors.

"You may not enter the palace," the guard said.

Ron Bars looked at him. "Shiny building," he said.

"You may not enter the palace," the guard replied.

"Shiny building," Ron Bars growled back.

As the two of them went on like this, Jezebel tapped Rupert on the shoulder. "Well, what now? How are we supposed to talk to the lord if we can't go in to find him?"

As Rupert opened his mouth to answer, Munin cawed, and flapped off a short distance to land in a palm tree. From that direction though, Lord Jehryn came walking down the street, chatting with the townsfolk as he returned to the palace. Erris thwaped the barbarian with her bow to get his attention, and the group turned back to face Jehryn.

The lord of the city looked at them with narrowed eyes. "I have heard many reports of your defeat of Radament. So far, you do not fill me with great hope for my city, but unfortunately, you are the best chance I have." He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with one hand. The seven looked between themselves, mostly showing a bit of embarrassment and a little bit of outrage.

"Since you are the best chance my city has for survival, and because of my discussions with Cain, I will tell you what I know. Several weeks ago, a Dark Wanderer passed through here. It is well known there are seven Horadric tombs …"

The seven trooped back across the city toward the gates into the desert. Suddenly, Rupert stopped dead in the street, almost causing Jezebel to crash into him. "Wait a minute, what happened to Kenny?" he blurted.

The others looked around, a slow look of horror creeping over their faces. With Erris in the lead, they turned and ran back for the docks, finally skidding to a halt where the mercenary had gone in. There, out a ways in the harbor, floated the fat Kenny.

Erris grabbed Tharos by the shirt. "Go in, go after him!"

He looked back in astonishment. "I can't swim," he said.

She looked at Ron Bars, who waved his hands in front of his chest. "Ron Bars dog paddle," he boomed.

With a cry of frustration, the amazon threw down her bow, stripping off her armor, and most of her clothes. Several men in the street stopped to whistle and catcall as she dove off the pier into the salty water. In silence, they watched her swim out, and start dragging Kenny back to the side of the pier.

Rupert, Garou, and Ron Bars all strained to help pull Kenny up the ladder onto the docks, but finally the mercenary rolled onto the boards, gasping and coughing up water. Oksana helped Erris up the rest of the way, pulling the amazon into a close embrace before being loudly slapped.

Tharos chuckled at Oksana as they both watched Erris wring the water out of her hair. "You just couldn't resist, could you?"

The assassin smiled seductively back. "Funny, I didn't hear you complaining when I did that to you," she purred. He coughed, blushing a bright red.

Finally, with Erris re-armed and armored, the group turned again for the gates to the city. Garou tossed his raven up into the air, letting Munin take flight to scout out the closer reaches of the desert for them. The druid squinted up at the sky, looking at the position of the sun. "I think we can reach the closest watering hole before nightfall, and set up camp there," he said.

Jezebel nodded, narrowly missing two playing children with her staff. "Then what?"

Rupert looked back at them. "Maybe before we head out to the desert, we should ask Cain if there's anything important in that book we found Radament reading?"

Garou clapped him on the back. "Good thinking." They turned down a street, heading back for the central marketplace.

The group sat around waiting while Cain finished telling a story to a group of children. But finally, the sage motioned them over, and the gathered near to listen. "I've managed to decipher a great deal of this book," he said, tapping the leathery cover. "It's an old Horadric journal, and it tells of how the mages sealed Tal Rasha into his tomb. To get inside the tomb, you need to construct a Horadric staff, and I think I know where the parts are. But first, go into the desert and find the Halls of the Dead …"

As night began to fall, they reached a large watering hole on the edge of the Dry Hills. With Erris and Garou on watch, the others quickly pitched their blankets and prepared to sleep for the night. The night air was thick with insects, and the group found it hard to sleep, constantly slapping at biting flies. But finally, they drifted off, trading watches as the moonless night wore on.

With the morning sun, the tired group pressed onward where Cain had directed them. As midday approached, they stopped at another water hole to refill their empty canteens. But soon, Munin came winging back to perch on Garou's shoulder, cawing weakly before winging off again. "Well?" Jezebel asked.

The druid sighed. "He says that there is a building sticking up from the sand not too far away. I hope it is the one we seek."

Erris snorted. "Come on, how many can there be?"

Rupert kicked at a small swell of sand. "Remember the small sandstorm we went through with Warriv's caravan?" She nodded slowly, and the others remembered it with horror. "Imagine a big sandstorm. It could bury a building for years, maybe centuries, and until another windstorm came along to blow away the sand, no one would ever know about it."

Jezebel looked horrified. "So what if the tomb we need to find is buried under the sands?"

Tharos waved a hand towards his laden skeletons. "These two can dig, though not very fast. As long as we knew the right place, assuming it's buried, we could reach it in a few days, I think."

The sorceress shook her head sadly. But from the rise of the next dune, they saw the dark granite stone of the temple Munin had seen. The outside had been worn away from countless years of exposure to the harsh winds and sand, but in a few spots they could still see remains of elaborate carvings.

As they reached closer, Erris looked into the darkened interior. "Well, these stairs go down. So we must be at the top of this thing." She turned, looking at Kenny. "You first, merc." As he waddled forward, she shoved him down the stairs with a clatter. Somewhere at the bottom they heard a crash, the sounds of breaking pottery and bones.

With torches and magelight held aloft, they trooped down slowly. Sure enough, there at the bottom lay Kenny, the broken pieces of several skeletons sticking out of his body. Sandwiched between him and the wall were the remains of several decorated urns. Tharos examined them gravely. "If there were undead here before Kenny crashed in, then they surely know we are here now."

Oksana furrowed her eyebrows. "What are you talking about? How can a dumb skeleton know we're here from a broken pot?"

The necromancer shook his head. "Many tombs in these deserts were ensorcelled with Horadric magic after the fall of the three Prime Evils. In tombs like this one, necromancy was often used to discourage looters and graverobbers. If any of the burial provisions are disturbed, it awakens the entire tomb. And if Diablo has passed by here, there will be even more and stronger undead and demons waiting for us."

As Kenny finally recovered and started to stand, several burning arrows whizzed out of the darkness, all of them striking him. With a clash of weapons, the seven stood victorious over the dead archers. "You sure there will be more, Tharos?" the paladin asked. As he nodded, Rupert knelt in prayer. To their surprise, he began to glow as his prayer finished. "Why are you all looking at me like that?" Rupert asked nervously.

Jezebel shook her head. "Just never seen a paladin, let alone you, do that." With the glowing Rupert in the lead, they headed into the tomb. Rupert's aura shattered skeletons, and the few demons and spear cats fell easily to arrows and axe.

Finally, they reached what appeared to be the bottom floor of the tomb. Garou held his torch closer to the wall, looking at the fanciful frescos and mosaics that adorned the walls. As the group started down the hallway, he grabbed Jezebel by the arm. "Look at this picture here," he pointed, "what is that thing he's holding there? It looks like some kind of strange box."

The sorceress also puzzled over it for a moment. "Probably some chest with gold or jewels in it," she said. "I can't read this language." They hurried to catch the rest of the group, stopped some distance away.

But as they grew closer, Garou saw why his companions had stopped. The end of the passageway was blocked by a large slab of stone, almost perfectly fitting the doorway, and carved with more hieroglyphics. Tharos kept roaming his eyes over the door, muttering to himself as he pointed out symbols.

Finally, Erris grew tired of waiting. "Well, can you open this door or not, Tharos?"

He looked over his shoulder at her. "Sure, opening it is easy. Just push on it, and the counter-weight will lower it into the floor. It'll also kill us." Jezebel squeaked nervously. "If I can figure out what this 'curse of slow poison' is, and how to avoid it, then I'll open the door."

Oksana shrugged, sitting down and sharpening her katar. Ron Bars also sat down, yawning and closing his eyes. The others also relaxed, except for Kenny - no one was sure whether he was relaxed or not, as he was too round to sit on the ground.

Finally, muttering obscenities under his breath, Tharos threw his wand to the ground in disgust. "I give up. I can't read enough of this ancient script to figure out what to do."

Rupert thought for a moment. "I guess then, let's retreat back to the stairs, and we can use one of your skeletons to push open the door." The others nodded, as none of them had any brighter ideas, and Erris kicked Ron Bars to wake up.

They quickly walked back to the stairs, leaving only the two skeletons standing by the door. As they watched, Tharos held his wand, and one skeleton shoved against the stone slab. Slowly, it retreated into the floor. But no apparent traps were triggered, and Erris snarled. "Kenny, go check it out!"

Mutely, the mercenary wobbled forward, spear held ready. But nothing invisible in the hallway killed him, and no monsters appeared in the room to slay him either. As the skeletons followed him in, their torchlight revealed an empty room - except for a single pedestal, holding a strange, wooden box.

Kenny greedily rested his spear, picking up the box. With a loud grinding noise, the walls of the hallway split open, hordes of skeletons swarming out. Ron Bars shouted in glee, charging at the skeletons. Rupert was only a moment behind him, still glowing brightly and bashing skeletons away with his shield.

Over their heads, Oksana threw a trap, which landed near the doorway, spewing flames at the skeletons. But all too soon, the undead were vanquished, and the heroes carefully walked back to the room. Tharos clucked his tongue, noting the poisoned blades the skeletons had wielded. "So that's what the symbol was," he muttered to himself.

Kenny, of course, had been nailed to the pedestal with a poisoned blade sticking out of his chest. In disgust, Erris pulled it out and tossed it into a corner. Jezebel picked up the box, looking at the carvings on every side. "What a curious thing," she said. "But there doesn't seem to be any way to open it."

One by one, the others all took a try at the box, but no one could understand the strange, wave-like carvings or decipher how to open it. Garou sighed, handing the box to Tharos' skeleton. "Let's take this back to Cain, too. Maybe that book told him we had to come get it."

Wearily, they trooped back to the surface, occasionally watching Ron Bars shatter a skeleton they missed. But back in the arid evening air, they hoisted their packs and prepared for the long walk back to the city.

Back in the city, Rupert presented the box to Cain. The old sage's eyes widened in great surprise. "A Horadric Cube! Then I was right!" He pulled the book back out, flipping through pages and muttering to himself in an unrecognized language. Finally, Cain stopped and look up at them again. "Do you remember passing an oasis with the caravan?"

Rupert nodded. "Sure, I remember. That's almost three days out in the desert."

Cain nodded again. "There are some tunnels underneath the oasis. By now, they have probably been overtaken by some of the giant insects, but in those tunnels is the Staff of Kings. Find it and bring it back here."

"But that will take us a week," Erris complained. "What about Diablo?"

Jezebel rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. If I can find a scroll of town portal for sale, then we only have to walk out there."

Their first stop was to see Lysander. As they approached his booth, they noticed the curtains were closed. As Rupert reached up to tap on them, they heard a snik and a cry of pain from inside. Lysander hurried out of the curtains, almost knocking Rupert down. The apothecary called over his shoulder, "Just put some ice on it, and it'll be fine!"

Jezebel cleared her throat, and Lysander turned to regard her. "Ah, yes, the adventurers? What can I do for you? Maybe you came here to buy some sacramental wine?"

Garou's eyes lit up, but Erris smacked him before he could say anything. "No, actually," Jezebel said, glaring at her companions, "we were wondering where we could buy a scroll of town portal."

The old man hummed, stroking his beard as he thought. "Well, not from me. Drognan might have some. Where are you headed to, anyway?"

Tharou sighed. "A set of tunnels out in the desert, probably taken over by those giant maggots."

Lysander clapped his hands together. "Then you do need sacramental wine! Just a minute." He turned and rushed back into his booth, coming out with several small vials. "Sacramental wine, guaranteed to cure what ails you! Hurts, poisons, weariness," with a wink and nudge to Rupert, "problems with the ladies, anything!"

Rupert turned bright red, but Oksana grabbed several. "Thanks so much! We'll tell you how they work out!" The group quickly walked off, looking for Drognan.

Fara walked over to stand next to Lysander. "Are you sure those seven know what they are doing?"

He chuckled. "Does it matter? There's not anyone else, but I'm sure Tyrael has his hands full keeping them alive." He chuckled some more. "Boy, I think they're going to get really shnookered with that wine!" Fara rolled her eyes and walked back to her own booth.

Three days later, they finally reached the edge of the Far Oasis. As the sun rose, the group awoke to the scent of Ron Bars frying sand maggot eggs over a small fire. Jezebel walked over to look, and made a face. "Oh, that looks disgusting!" she cried. "I hope you weren't expecting us to eat that?"

In answer, the barbarian picked up his portion and swallowed the greasy thing whole. Garou came over as the sorceress fled, and tried a small bite of the eggs. With a face, he managed to swallow it. "No offense, Ron Bars, but your cooking skills leave much to be desired." The barbarian looked at him in confusion, then shrugged and downed the rest of the eggs.

As they started walking the perimeter of the oasis, Oksana asked, "How are we supposed to find these tunnels, anyway? I certainly didn't notice them on the way in with the caravan." The others shrugged.

Suddenly, with a wail, Kenny dropped out of sight, a hole in the sand suddenly appearing. Jezebel almost fell in as well, but her staff got stuck in the sand, with her desperately hanging from it, halfway into the hole. Ron Bars carefully lifted her up, and they all looked at the hole.

Erris sighed. "This must be it. I'll go down first." But as she started to step forward, Tharos blocked her way with an arm.

"Don't be stupid. We don't know how far down the hole goes. You could be killed." He carefully stepped backwards from the hole.

The amazon bristled. "I suppose you want to be a dumb male and shield me from all the danger?"

Tharos rolled his eyes, and gestured. One of his skeletons clattered forward, and jumped down the hole. "I'd prefer to shield all of us from pointless death, if I can," he said, smirking. "The hole curves a few feet down, and it's a safe landing."

With a shout of glee, Oksana dove into the hole, and they could hear her laughing all the way down. One by one, they dove after her, until all stood in a roughly circular chamber, some thirty feet below the surface. Jezebel held her ball of light aloft until the others could light torches. Finally, they looked around.

The chamber seemed to have only one exit, covered by a thin membrane of some slimy mucus. Rupert carefully set it on fire, wrinkling his nose at the smell. But it burned away quickly, revealing a tunnel leading deeper into the sands. "Well, I guess this is the way we should start," he said, stepping forward.

They wandered for almost an hour, through the twisting passages and occasional chambers. Finally, Garou stopped in one chamber. "I think we're going in circles," he said. As he opened his mouth to continue, a gout of poisonous mucus came from the passageway behind him, coating the druid's head and back and sending Munin tumbling to the ground.

With a roar, Garou turned around, shifting into a werewolf as he tore the sand maggot into pieces. The others all stayed well back until he had finished, and turned to regard them, covered in ichor. He looked down at himself, and growled. "Damnit, I hate these accursed bugs!" He spun around angrily, stalking down the tunnel.

That was how he found the hole down to the next level, another long slide down to another set of circular tunnels. Several more hours of walking in circles later, they found a third slide down. "I sure hope we find this staff soon," Oksana muttered. "I'm starting to run out of traps."

The others nodded, walking along wearily. Even Ron Bars was dragging his axes along the ground, and only the animated skeletons showed no sign of exhaustion. But this third level seemed different than the others, with only one long, straight tunnel from the original chamber.

Finally, they could see ahead of them the tunnel widening out into a very large chamber. They doused all but one torch, and dimmed the magelight, as they grew closer. At the chamber entrance, they stopped and stared in wonder.

The chamber itself was almost fifty feet across, and twenty feet high. Near the center was the largest sand maggot any of them had ever seen, almost thirty feet long, slowly pumping out egg after egg into the sand. Other sand maggots were moving the eggs slowly into piles in another part of the room.

The adventurers quietly prepared themselves, and Rupert counted down with his fingers. As he reached zero, arrow and lightning bolt flew towards the huge queen maggot, a lightning web arced across the eggs and worker maggots, and the others charged into battle. It was over very quickly, the adventurers all covered in gore and mucus from the sand maggots.

Rupert dug into the pile of shattered maggot eggs, pulling out an ornate box. As he opened it, the staff inside began glowing. Jezebel whistled at the sight of the staff. "Well, that's certainly interesting, don't you think?"

Oksana poked the sorceress. "Where's that scroll? I want to go take a swim in the ocean and clean all this muck off of me." The assassin carefully scraped away a line of green ichor off her cheek.

As they started to leave through the portal, Erris growled, stepping over to the wall and prying Kenny loose from the sand, where a gout of maggot spit had plastered him.

As they stepped into town, the people of Lut Gholein quickly parted, leaving a big hole in the crowd for the stinky, gore-covered adventurers. Without a word, they all trooped down to the docks, climbing in even in armor to clean away the sticky green maggot blood.

Finally clean, they staggered back to the main square of the marketplace and collapsed at Cain's feet. Rupert carefully pulled the glowing staff from his pack and handed it to Cain. "Yes, this is it!" he said triumphantly. "Good, you only need one more piece to create the Horadric Staff necessary to open Tal Rasha's tomb!"

Tharos held up a hand. "Hold it. Why do we need to open the tomb that holds Baal?"

The sage glared at him. "How are you going to prevent Diablo from freeing Baal?"

Tharos frowned. "Hey, I'm just worried that we might accidentally free Baal ourselves."

"Oh, that's quite beyond your skills. I fervently hope so, anyway." He frowned, and leaned the staff against the well next to him. "At any rate, the other piece for the staff is the Viper Amulet. It should be in the Claw Viper temple."

"Now wait a minute!" Erris cried. "Claw Vipers curse people. If we go in there and loot their temple, won't they curse all of us?"

Cain rolled his eyes. "Once you take the amulet, the Vipers won't be able to curse anybody! Now quit arguing, and ask Griez where the stupid temple is already."

Oksana shook her head. "Alright, we'll get there, but first, I need some … sleep." Cain groaned and shook his head in despair.


	5. Claw Vipers, and the Arcane Sanctuary

As the sun rose the next morning, they stepped back through the town portal, and began the slow task of climbing back out of the Sand Maggot Lair. Once back at the surface, they all cleaned off at the oasis, and started off across the desert again. As the day passed from morning to afternoon, they came upon a gutted building, the clay bricks slowly being worn down by the sand and the wind.

Rupert looked around, noting pieces of more buildings. "This must be the Lost City Griez mentioned." He tapped the wall with his scepter, and part of it broke away, crumbling back into the sand.

Erris sighed, wiping sweat from her forehead. "Great, so now we just need to found our way through this to the old temple the Claw Vipers have been using."

As she spoke, Erris pointed into the desert. Indeed, there was a group of Claw Vipers, gathered around and intoning something. But even as they charged, the vipers let fly their curse, and the group stopped, confused, as the Vipers slipped away. Tharos shook his head to try and clear away the fuzziness. "What the heck did they just do to us?"

Jezebel groaned. "I'm not sure, but that was definitely a curse. It shouldn't take very long before we find out what it was."

Oksana shrugged. "So what. Too much talk, not enough action."

Rupert glared at her. "We have to find out what they did to us before we continue."

Oksana tossed her hair back, opened her mouth, and started to sing. Everyone in the group joined in, dancing and singing along with her. (Those of us in the modern world would recognize the song as "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley.)

As they finished the song, with Oksana pressed up against Rupert, all of them sort of stumbled. Erris groaned. "Oh no, this is horrible! How are we supposed to deal with each other if all we do is break into song?"

They looked at each other nervously, and Rupert seized the opportunity to escape from Oksana. Ron Bars suddenly started shaking uncontrollably, and finally clapped a hand over his mouth. Rupert hurried over to him, looking concerned. "What is it? What's wrong?"

The barbarian lowered his hand, and boomed out in an operatic tone, "Ron Bars not sing!" In horror, he clapped his hands over his mouth again. The others groaned.

"Come on, let's find this temple, quickly," Rupert said. "I have no desire to be stuck like this any longer than I have to." The others, nodding agreement, followed him deeper through the Lost City.

As sunset came on them, they stood at the entrance to the temple. Set back into the cliff, the sides of the temple still bore faint impressions of the carvings they once held. With some worrisome gazes, and firmly shut mouths, they headed down into the temple.

They found the second set of stairs very quickly. Rupert carefully spoke, trying hard to resist bursting into song. "Right down here, we kill the head priest, wreck the altar, and steal the amulet." The others nodded and followed him down the stairs.

They stepped out into the chamber, and saw the altar there in the center of the floor. From around the room they could hear Claw Vipers hissing and preparing to meet them in battle. Tharos ran forward, leaping onto the altar and landing heavily. It cracked beneath him, and one of the vipers screamed, lunging forward.

But Ron Bars leaped over the necromancer, landing on the edge of the altar, his axes halting the viper's charge. The altar started to crumble apart as the others laid into the other monsters, turning the altar room into a mess of chopped up snake corpses. Erris carefully picked up the amulet, and slipped it into her pocket. "Well? Now that it's safe to talk without bursting into song, can we get back to town and find out what else we have to do?"

Jezebel nodded silently, producing a town portal scroll and reading it. With a last glance around the room, they returned to Lut Gholein.

Back in town, the people were eerily quiet, moving and bargaining in bare whispers, saying only the smallest bit necessary. Wondering what new evil might be threatening the town so, the heroes hurried to the market square, and Erris produced the amulet to Cain. "Why is everyone whispering?" she asked loudly. Everyone within earshot cringed, several people trying to shush her.

Cain took the amulet and examined it carefully, opening the book and comparing it to something illustrated. Finally, the sage let out a sigh of relief. "It's all over. No more singing."

The news swept through the market and into the streets of the city, and shortly everything was back to the usual chaotic babble from before. Garou stared at Cain in surprise. "You mean, everyone here was compelled to sing as well?"

Cain groaned and sagged against the stone well. "I thought I had been in some horrible situations before. King Leoric turning evil, the Arch Bishop Lazarus bringing Diablo back to power, being hung in a gibbet for several days with Fallen Ones torturing me - none of it compared to listening to that old fool sing for five minutes!"

They all turned to follow Cain's pointing finger at Lysander's tent, just as an agonized shriek came from inside. Lysander hurried out quickly, pulling the curtains closed behind him. The apothecary in turn stared back at the adventurers. "What?" he asked, looking confused. "I can't sing a little Hanukkah song without everyone complaining about it?"

The heroes shrugged, and turned back to Cain. "Now then, I've been speaking with Drognan about your mission here to stop Diablo. He agrees with me that you aren't capable, but the only choice we have."

At that point, the wizard came up, his eyes narrowed at the heroes. "I suppose I have you fools to thank for the non-stop singing? I couldn't do any reading at all because of that drunken fool Geglash spouting 'Ninety Nine Bottles of Ale on the Wall' all day at the top of his lungs!" He glared at the assembled group. "Why couldn't you have gotten a normal curse, like darkness or a plague of frogs, or a rain of blood? Those would have been paradise!

"At any rate," he finally continued, "A mage named Horazon once lived in this area, and did a great deal of research into Tal Rasha and apparently he had an Arcane Sanctuary on the spot this city now occupies. I believe that you might find some information about the Sanctuary by talking to Lord Jehryn about what's happened recently. With that, I wash my hands of it." Drognan turned and walked away, still muttering angrily under his breath.

The group shared several moments of indecision, before finally turning and heading across the marketplace towards the other side of the city. As they walked away, Kara and Lysander stood there watching them. He finally called after them, "Bye bye, boys! Have fun storming the palace!"

Kara glanced at him. "Do you think it'll work?"

He shook his head. "It'd take a miracle."

In unison, they both shouted again, "Bye bye!"

They walked up the steps of the palace, and the guards out front reluctantly waved them into the entryway. One of them turned and headed deeper into the palace, as the heroes stood there marveling at the opulent entryway. The hall seemed to be dipped in gold and silver, and valuable gems were abundant. The ceiling above them has gems of all types put together in a mosaic, showing a battle between the forces of Heaven and Hell.

Finally the guard returned, with Lord Jehryn following him. The leader looked at the ragged assembly, and sighed heavily. "I hear that you've managed to destroy the altar in the Claw Viper temple. I suppose I should be impressed at your luck, but frankly I'm too surprised that it's lasted this long.

"But that's not why I called you here. Shortly before the troubles began, a traveling sorcerer came to the palace and asked to do some research in the palace cellars. I didn't think much of it at the time, but apparently he never reappeared. With the demons appearing at the walls, I allowed the harem guilds to take shelter inside the palace."

Oksana interrupted him, looking positively delighted. "Harem girls? Oh goody, when do we get to meet them?"

Had Jehryn been a mage, his look would have turned the oblivious assassin to stone. Instead he continued, slowly and deliberately. "One night, my guards heard screams, and rushed into the cellars to find demons pouring out of a portal and slaughtering the harem girls. My guards have been fighting desperately to keep the demons from pouring out of the palace and into the city. That's why I had to hire Griez and his mercenaries to take charge of the city walls."

Oksana murmured something under her breath, but Jehryn ignored her. "Drognan tells me that a place called the Arcane Sanctuary might lie underneath the palace. So feel free to go down to that portal and take a look. The stairs are over there, and please don't track any more dirt and blood around than you already have."

With a snort of disdain, Jehryn turned and marched back into another part of the palace. Rupert and Erris took the opportunity to glare at Oksana, while Garou and Tharos snickered. "First thing you thought of, Oksana?" the druid chortled. "The rest of us aren't enough company for you?"

The assassin smiled seductively. "Some of you don't want to keep me … company," she purred out, rubbing up against Erris. The amazon frowned in distaste and shoved her away. "Oh girl, you like it rough?" the assassin asked again, running a tongue over her lips and winking. Erris gave a strangled cry, and turned away, the others all laughing at her.

Rupert waved a hand to get them to quiet down. "All right, enough of that. We have to get down into the cellars and find that portal. Tomorrow," he said, looking out at the darkening sky. "Let's head back for the inn and get some sleep."

As they walked the streets through the dispersing crowd, a ragged looking dog suddenly lunged out of the crowd and hid behind Garou. The heroes looked around, surprised, as a small group of kids came charging out after the dog. "So much for getting dog meat," one of them muttered when they saw the dog with the adventurers.

The druid looked down and offered a hand to the dog. "Dogmeat? Is that a name for you?" The mutt whined and licked his hand enthusiastically. "Come on, Dogmeat. Meet Munin," he said, moving the raven from his shoulder to the dog's back.

Jezebel looked at the dog in disgust. "Please tell me you're not serious about taking that … thing with us? I've killed cleaner looking monsters."

Garou chuckled and scratched Dogmeat's head. "Don't worry, I'll give him a bath in the morning. He'll be fine." The sorceress groaned again.

"Great, instead of dirty dog, we get wet dog."

The next morning, they returned to the palace, Dogmeat cleaner, but no less scruffy looking. The palace guards reluctantly admitted them, and they headed down the stairs into the first level of the palace cellars. The first two levels, the ones originally set aside for the harem girls, were very quiet, hardly any monsters about at all.

Erris finally snarled as an arrow shattered a skeleton mage. "I don't like this at all," she said. "It's too quiet down here. Jehryn said that his soldiers had trouble keeping the demons from spilling forth out of the palace, so where all of them?"

"Isn't that the sixty-four thousand dollar question," Garou muttered in reply, swinging his sword loosely. Dogmeat whined as they approached another staircase down. "You know, wouldn't it make more sense to have one central staircase, instead of having to walk through half the floor to go down again?"

The others just shrugged at him, and they trooped down another flight of stairs. Ron Bars kicked open the door at the bottom, and Jezebel muttered "Oh, crap." Before them, in a fairly open hallway, stood rank upon rank of skeleton archers. Rupert barely closed the door in time as all of them fired at once, the arrows splintering the door like a thunder of hail.

"Now what?" Oksana cried, quickly preparing a lightning trap.

Jezebel tapped Tharos with her staff. "Do those skeletons burn easily?"

Another hail of arrows shattered across the door, one bursting through to bury itself in Kenny's neck. "Yes!" the necromancer replied.

The sorceress shoved Rupert out of the way, pushing the door open again. Quickly, several large sheets of fire rose up, blocking the doorway and charring several of the skeletons. A few arrows came flying through regardless, but when the walls of fire died, all that remained were charred bits of bone.

"Well, at least we know there are hordes down here," Tharos muttered.

"Ron Bars smash!" Erris patted the barbarian on the shoulder, pushing him out into the hallway first.

These next two floors were packed with monsters. One room was so full of Abominations that the door was quickly blocked by a pile of corpses. Erris took a moment to wipe the sweat from her eyes. "Great Gabriel in Heaven, no wonder the guards are getting their butts handed to them!"

Tharos looked over at Kenny, recovering from a fatal head-bite by an Abomination. "Erris, amazons train in the use of spear and such, right?"

She frowned, but nodded to him. "Yeah, why?"

He pointed at Kenny. "Do any of your friends suck so badly at using them as he does?"

Oksana started chuckling as Erris turned slightly red. "Most of my friends are skilled archers. My mother has been known to split an arrow from a hundred paces away." She turned away in a huff. Ron Bars and Garou grunted, finally managing to tip over the wall of corpses, and the fighting began again.

When the wall had piled up yet again, the druid looked down at his blood-stained wolf fur. "I should have listened to my father," he lamented. " 'Don't go into shape-shifting,' he said, 'learn how to control the wind and flames.' I'm an idiot." Dogmeat whined and licked his hand, and Munin sat on the corpses cawing in laughter.

Jezebel frowned at the thick, blood-leaking wall. "We're not going to get through here. Let's see if we can find another way through."

Rupert nodded. "The portal has got to be around here somewhere."

Oksana frowned at him. "How do you figure that?"

He smiled. "Easy. We always came down in one corner of the floor, and the next staircase was in the opposite corner. Which is where we are now, and look - no more stairs."

The assassin rolled her eyes and walked back to the other door, back the way they came. As she reached it, the door shuddered from two hits, and then fell over. Ducking to fit through the doorway strode a massive monster, eight feet tall, holding wicked scimitars in all four of his hands. Seeing them trapped by the corpse wall, he smiled, sharpened teeth glinting blood-red. "Fresh meat," he snarled.

Ron Bars knew they were in trouble, so he picked the most effective course of action - he picked up Kenny, straining mightily, and threw the mercenary at the monster. The beast had only a moment to shriek in horror before the five-hundred pound Kenny smashed into him. The monster went flying back, his head taking out a chunk of the stone doorway.

The others all stared at the hole for a moment, then looked at Ron Bars. Then Rupert and Garou gave a loud cheer, clapping the barbarian on the back. Their joy was short lived, however, as the monster again appeared in the doorway. "Now you've really pissed me off," he growled, preparing all of his scimitars.

"Aw, nutbunnies," Oksana muttered. The monster charged, running straight into Ron Bars and Garou. Both of them took dangerous hits, and their own attacks were foiled by flashing blades.

Erris muttered something darkly, and grabbed a whole handful of arrows in her hand at once. She closed her eyes briefly, then readied the arrows. She fired them, one at a time, but at a speed so fast the twang of the bow seemed more like a hum. Though the monster was able to block the first few, the barrage of arrows quickly left him nailed to the wall. Jezebel stepped forward then, breathing out a gout of flame until the body was incinerated.

Tharos looked at the amazon in respect. "That was certainly impressive. What was that, fifty arrows?"

She preened, putting the last few arrows back in her quiver. "My mentor called that the 'chain bow' for some reason. Just put out enough arrows that it's impossible for them to dodge every one."

Jezebel shrugged. "Real nice. Now, give me a minute to throw up a few fire walls and maybe they'll burn through all these corpses."

An hour later, the heroes finally finished mapping out the now-empty floor and found a rather curious metal lattice-work frame. The thing seemed to have been constructed from razors, and a curious star-like piece, made of arrowheads, sat atop the frame, spinning freely. "Well. I think this is the portal Jehryn must have been talking about." Oksana cautiously tapped the frame with her cestus, and it chimed softly.

Jezebel examined it for several minutes. "I think we have to adjust the star to open the portal," she said. Rupert reached up with his scepter and spun it slowly, but nothing seemed to happen.

Tharos leaned close, and pointed with his wand at one spot. "These are bloodstains right here," he said. "Perhaps it needs some small amount of blood to activate the portal?"

Erris grabbed Kenny by the arm. Even as the mercenary squawked in protest, she slashed his hand open on the razors of the frame. With a roar and a gush of wind, the framework filled with the blue, swirling energy of a portal. "Yep, that works," the amazon said. "Forward the Light Brigade!"

Ron Bars charged through the portal first, Erris and Garou fast on his heels. Kenny, wailing and holding his cut hand, tottered through next. Oksana looked at Tharos before she stepped into the portal. "Think we'll find anything interesting?"

The necromancer laughed. "There's an old curse I read about. 'May you live in interesting times.' I think we're already cursed with that, don't you?"

The assassin gave him a wink. But before she could say anything further, Jezebel impatiently shoved her through the portal too, and shook her staff at Tharos. This managed to nail Rupert right in the crotch, but she didn't notice that. "Enough flirting, Tharos. We have a Prime Evil to catch, remember?"

The necromancer smiled sardonically. "Once we catch him, can we sell him as a collector's item?"

Rupert growled in annoyance and pain, and shoved them both through the portal.

They came out in the Arcane Sanctuary, on a small platform hanging above seeming nothingness. Stars twinkled in all directions - and by twinkled, I mean they danced around, orbiting each other in the bizarre surrounding sky. The platform led down to a crossway, walkways leading off into the darkness. The area around them seemed to be lit by a sourceless, aimless light that cast no shadows. Tharos looked over the edge of the platform and shivered. "Long way down," he said quietly.

Ron Bars and Garou had already descended the stairs to the crossway, carefully looking and sniffing around for any tracks. As the others also walked down the stairs, the druid looked up. "There's demons all around this place. So I guess just pick a direction, and explore. If we're lucky, the mage who built this place left a journal or something."

Rupert pulled out a dagger, stood in the center of the walkway, and dropped it, and the others all watched the dagger spin, finally pointing off towards one walkway. "All right, we go that way," the paladin said, picking up the dagger and putting it away. Slowly they walked off again, into the formless light.

Goat-headed demons, and fire-throwing ghouls seemed to rise up out of the darkness as they walked, but the monsters were no obstacle to them. They followed the winding staircases and walkways around, finally reaching a small fortified area. Spires throw lightning bolts at them, and incorporeal wraiths swooped out of the darkness, sucking away their mana. But arrows shattered the crystal of the spires, bursts of flame sent the wraiths cowering back into the darkness, and axe and claws cast the demons off the walkways to fall, screaming, into the endless night.

They strode forward onto the platform, looking at the small chest that sat in the center. Jezebel walked up and tapped it with her staff. "It's locked," she said, turning to look at Oksana. The assassin sat down in front of the chest, producing her lock pick again, and easily springing the chest open.

They eagerly pulled the lid open, and stared uncomprehendingly into the chest. Inside was a simple piece of paper, which Tharos picked up and read aloud. "Horazon - came back for my leathers. The Cow King." He reread the paper silently to himself, then crumpled it up and dumped it back in the chest. "What the hell is this?"

The others shrugged. "Damned if I know," Erris said, "but let's keep exploring. There's still three other pathways to check out, and maybe one of them has something we can use."

Disgruntled, the heroes turned and walked back towards the crossway where they had appeared.

The second walkway was very similar to the first. Winding stairs, and sloped paths that curled around on top of each other gave them some trouble at first, but soon Erris and Jezebel were blasting anything that appeared. They found the final platform, again guarded by large numbers of demons and wraiths, but fought valiantly through them.

Again, they gathered around the chest, and excitingly flipped it open. This time, however, the contents was not a note, but a small pile of gold coins. Rupert counted it out slowly. "Twenty five gold coins. That's it? A hundred monsters between the crossway and here for a lousy twenty five coin?" He kicked the chest in disgust.

To their surprise, the chest went flying off into the endless sky, and beneath it was the lid to another chest. They examined it carefully, and finally Oksana bent down and flipped it back carefully. Inside was a much larger pile of gold, and a scroll of town portal. With a cheer, they divided up the gold, and Jezebel slipped the scroll into a hollow point in her staff.

"Well, at least this wasn't a total loss," the paladin said, grinning. "Two down, two to go." In much higher spirits, they trooped back to the crossway again.

The third walkway was nothing but straight lines. This made it remarkably easy for the party, as Ron Bars just rolled Kenny down the path in a straight line. Any monsters that were not thrown off the sides or tramped to death were quickly finished by scepter or claws. They reached the last platform very quickly, and fought to the chest even faster.

This chest was empty, except for a layer of fine dust at the bottom. In eagerness, Oksana bent down and threw it out of the way. The resulting trap explosion knocked all of them down, and threw her backwards to the very edge of the platform. She screamed as she started to slide off the edge, her hands frantically grabbing for any purchase to keep her from falling into the abyss.

Tharos was up quickly, and his skeletons clattered forward to grab the assassin's wrists. But their bony hands could not hold her, and she slipped again, to the very edge of the platform. "Help me!" Ron Bars crawled forward, his powerful hand clamping over one arm, while Garou kept him from sliding away also. Erris extended her bow, trying to get Oksana to grab that as a lifeline.

They held there for a minute, the heroes unable to get the leverage to pull Oksana back up to safety. Then Ron Bars' hand, slick with sweat, lost its purchase, and Oksana fell, screaming in horror, down into the abyss. They all stood there, staring, as her voice faded away and they lost sight of her. Rupert fell heavily to his knees, his eyes staring sightlessly at the edge where she had fallen.

The others seemed likewise in a daze, staring out at the endless dancing stars. Finally, Erris bent her head. "Tyrael, watch over her soul," she whispered. Tharos sat there, tears rolling silently down his cheeks.

Then Jezebel rapped her staff against the platform sharply, the crack echoing. All the others looked at her in surprise. "I think we can go after her!"

Erris stared at the sorceress. "Have you gone mad? Sure, we could go after her, just jump off! Then we'll be dead too!"

Jezebel shook her head in irritation. "No you fool. It's simple. We tie ourselves together with a rope, and jump off the platform in the same spot. If we work it carefully, we'll fall the same direction, but faster. Then when we catch up to Oksana, I read this," she brandished the scroll of town portal, "and we're all safe. We can go back through the palace to reach the crossway again."

Garou's eyes widened, and he shifted back to human form. "It just might work. Of course, we'd have to be very careful to go straight down from the edge of the platform, but if we stay linked together, then we'd just fall into the portal."

Ron Bars suddenly looked around. "What noise?" he boomed. The others all went silent, listening as well. Then the barbarian gave a cry, pointing up into the sky. Falling towards them came Oksana, still wailing. They leaped to their feat, bracing Ron Bars as the barbarian prepared to catch her.

Oksana hit him with a crash, knocking everyone down again. But this time, no one fell off the platform. They all got slowly to her feet, and Oksana looked around carefully. "This must be Hell, you're all still here!" Tharos laughed, quietly, and the group carefully embraced. Then Oksana turned back to the chest and the trap. "Alright, what's in this one?"

Again, they gathered around, though this time braced a little more carefully. Oksana gingerly flipped open the lid, and they stared down carefully. Inside the chest lay seven small rings. They eached picked one up, Erris smacking Kenny's hand when he tried to grab hers. Each ring was decorated slightly differently, and they silently passed the rings about, until all of them were satisfied with their choice.

They stood there for a moment longer, admiring their new jewelry (with Kenny silently glaring jealously) before Rupert straightened up, taking a new grip on his scepter. "Right then, on we go. Just one last walkway to check out, and we'll see if there's anything in this strange place."

Oksana frowned and tapped him on the shoulder. "Wait a minute. If you just circle around in this crazy sky, what happens to all the monsters we tossed off?"

Jezebel laughed. "They probably went careening off, and when they get close to a walkway, they just bounce off. If you hadn't fallen straight down, you probably wouldn't have come back."

The assassin glared back. "Thanks for the optimism, mage."

The sorceress smiled back with false sweetness. "Anytime, girl."

Tharos stepped between them, deftly guiding Oksana back toward the crossway. "It's not worth arguing about. Besides, we might find another set of rings."

She nodded, admiring the dragon ring with a small, ruby eye. "Yeah, maybe." She then turned, grabbed him for a big kiss, and ran back towards their starting point. Tharos chuckled, watching her and blushing slightly.

Garou came up beside the necromancer and grinned. "Careful, I think she likes you."


	6. The Summoner, and Duriel

They started down the last crossway, and stopped. It ended a short distance in, with another frame, swirling with a red portal. Two dozen feet beyond it was another walkway, with another red portal. They approached it slowly, and Jezebel cautiously put the end of her staff into the portal and pulled it out again. Erris growled at her in annoyance, and shoved Kenny through.

They saw him stumble out of the portal on the other side, and promptly get swarmed by goat-headed demons. Ron Bars gave out a battle cry, leaping through the portal. The others followed quickly, casting monsters dead and dying from the floating walkway.

They traveled down this set of floating, disconnected paths, often using arrows, spells, and thrown traps to whittle down the number of monsters until they grew closer. Soon, they reached the last area. Above them, linked by winding stairs, was a large platform. Around the edges floated magical symbols, casting blue light, though they could not tell what the symbols were.

Rupert pointed upward and whispered, "Jackpot!" The others nodded, and Oksana started slowly climbing the stairs, drawing the darkness around her to stay unnoticed. When she reached high enough to see what lay on the platform above, she almost fell off. Slowly she retreated, and the heroes backed away from the platform some distance.

"The whole platform is packed," Oksana whispered urgently. "It looks like every monster who wasn't wounded when we tossed them off has gotten back to here. And some fool in bright blue robes is up there too."

They all crouched there, silently, and Rupert nodded. "Well, Ron Bars will take one set of stairs, Garou the other. The goat-demons can't approach us more than one at a time, and Erris and Jezebel can take down the crowd from below." With no better plan in mind, they moved back to the base of the stairs.

Rupert counted silently. When he gave the signal, Ron Bars let out an ear-splitting war cry, and barbarian and werewolf druid charged up their staircases, with the paladin and assassin close behind them. Several demons fell right off the platform in surprise, but a quick flurry of arrows, lightning bolts, and bony spears left them falling in a cloud of their own blood.

The heroes moved up quickly, axes and claws sending monsters flying off into the gloom, often missing heads or limbs. But then the blue-robed mage turned his fury on the party. A wall of flame rose up around Garou, and the druid screamed in pain as it scorched away his fur. He fought forward, biting and clawing at the demons in his way, but the flames followed him.

Oksana jumped up on Ron Bars' shoulders, and the barbarian tried to look up at her. "Throw me!" she shouted, and he grunted, burying both axes in the demon before him. He grabbed the assassin around the waist, and hurled her over the crowd toward the mage. She spun in the air, landing almost exactly the way she wished, knocking both of them to the ground.

The mage looked up at her face from between her legs. She smiled impishly, then twisted her legs, snapping his neck. As the mage died, so did his fire, and the others were swiftly at her sides, killing the last of the demons. They took a minute to rest and regroup, Rupert healing the druid from the fire wounds.

Finally, Erris started searching the robes of the fallen mage, pulling out a small book. She flipped it open, and started reading through. Finally, she closed it in disgust. "Whoever wrote this had absolutely horrible handwriting," she complained.

Tharos ignored her, looking at the circular mosaic on the center of the platform, then up at the six glowing symbols hanging in the air. One by one, he counted off the symbols, then pulled out a small piece of charcoal, and noted the missing symbol. Then he turned to Jezebel. "Any idea what these are?" he said, pointing at the mosaic.

The sorceress moved over, and followed his pointing finger. "Yes, I think those are the symbols the Horadric mages used for the tombs where they buried Tal Rasha."

Rupert frowned. "How many tombs are there?"

She sighed. "Supposedly, they made seven tombs, and put them all in the same canyon. Then they sealed off Tal Rasha, filled all of the tombs with traps, and sealed up the entrances. They didn't want anyone getting to him."

Tharos nodded. "I can imagine. But how are we supposed to reach this canyon?"

Jezebel shrugged, looking down at the mosaic. "I don't know for sure, but …" she stepped to the side, to look at the tiles from a different angle, and disappeared. The others all stared at the empty air for a moment, then rushed forward.

Rupert held them all back, and carefully stepped onto the same space where the sorceress had disappeared. Likewise, the paladin vanished. One by one, they all followed his lead.

They emerged in the middle of a canyon, the bright, desert sun scorching down. They stood on a large stone platform, that looked as though it was once the top of a pyramid, buried beneath the sands. But the wind was starting to pick up, bringing with it sand and insects, flying by and stinging the heroes. Ron Bars led the way, everyone holding on to each other as they fought through the wind to the shelter of a large rock.

They huddled around, trying to avoid the abrasive winds. "We have to find a better shelter or get out of here!" Rupert shouted over the wind.

Jezebel shook her head. "I can't read a scroll in this wind! We have to find someplace else!"

Tharos grabbed her arm, and pointed along the line of the cliff not too far away. The surface seemed to be carved, and something like a cave entrance was a darker blot through the sand-filled storm.

Again with Ron Bars leading the way, they staggered through the sandstorm, abrasive wind rubbing their skin raw. They reached the entrance and collapsed inside, crawling away from the wind and favoring their raw skin. They sat there for several moments recovering, and watching as Kenny regrew his sand-blasted face. Then Jezebel gasped.

"We found it," she said. "We found one of Tal Rasha's tombs." They looked around, at the carvings and painted walls, legacies of the Horadric mages long since passed. Not too much further in was a staircase down into further darkness. Above the archway was carved a plain circle.

Tharos pointed up at the symbol. "That was one of the seven on that mosaic," he said, and Jezebel nodded. "It was also one of the six glowing ones on the platform."

Erris frowned. "So what?"

Garou smiled. "I think what he means, is if there were seven symbols on the mosaic, corresponding to the seven tombs, but only six glowing symbols, then the missing symbol is probably the tomb we want to explore first." He sat back looking smug.

Oksana shrugged. "Whatever. Can we use that scroll of town portal now? I really want to go back to the inn and take a nap."

Rupert held up his ring, faint light glinting off the gold sword etched into it. "And find out what these do, as well."

After a long nap, with magical rings identified, and heroes carrying thick, sandstorm-weather cloaks, they stepped back into the portal. The storm outside was not yet raging, but they kept the cloaks with them. Garou climbed the large rock they had sheltered behind, and looked up and down the canyon in both directions.

"There's two tombs in that direction," he pointed to the right of the circle-tomb, "and at least three the other way. I can't see further than that."

Rupert nodded. "Alright, let's check out the two first. The symbols aren't too far inside, and if the wind picks up it'll give us somewhere to shelter."

The tombs were spaced almost a mile apart, and barely marked out of the surrounding canyon walls. The sliding sand, moved around by the storm the day before, did not make their travel any easier. Ron Bars had to pick Jezebel up after several falls, and at one point carried her across a sliding dune.

But both of those first two were not the matching symbol either. Tharos pulled out the paper, showing everyone the star, almost shuriken-like. So, wearily, they headed back up the canyon, fighting their way across the shifting sands. Finally, as night began to fall, they had barely reached their way back to the circle tomb. They stopped again near the large boulder, everyone but Ron Bars falling to the sand to rest.

Erris coughed, spitting out sand. "We need to get back to town and rest," she said. The others nodded wearily with her, panting with exertion. But even as Jezebel started to reach for a scroll, a feline scream echoed through the canyon. They all looked around warily, not sure where the noise came from.

Then a javelin came flying through the twilit night, knocking Kenny back to the ground. They all readied their weapons, Jezebel holding her staff high and conjuring up a ball of magical light. It revealed several spear cats, who squinted into the light and threw their javelins.

Erris fired, her arrow knocking two javelins out of the air. And Jezebel quickly brought up a wall of fire on one side of the party, even as Garou roared and leapt over it. But the group was surrounded, more and more cats appearing as though conjured out of thin air. Ron Bars had dropped his axes, grabbing the javelins out of midair and throwing them back.

Soon they were forced back into a circle, Tharos conjuring new skeletons constantly as they were shattered. And even with fire walls surrounding them on all sides, more and more cats were dashing through them to attack the party with whips and javelin. "We have to get out of here!" Oksana screamed, throwing another lightning sentry over the fire wall and hearing it discharge.

Jezebel quickly conjured again, as her fire walls started to die out. "I know!" she screamed back. "If I could, we'd be out of here already!" Rupert slammed into another saber cat with his shield, knocking it to the ground before Oksana killed it. "We should retreat to the tomb!"

The group started slowly, Jezebel conjuring new fire walls as they moved up against the side of the cliff and into the narrow passage that made the entrance to the tomb. The corpses of saber cats piled up quickly outside the passage, but the monsters kept fighting, climbing over the bodies of their dead comrades. Finally, Tharos stepped forward, ducking a javelin, and started intoning.

His magic went on for several minutes in harsh, gutteral tones, and though he dodged javelins constantly, he voice never stopped. Then he ended with a flourish, wand pointing at the pile of corpses. Nothing happened for a moment, then the bodies shifted. In a sudden movement, all the bones tore free at once, towering into the sky and rearranging themselves. The bones crashed down again, a skeletal monster thirty feet high and twice that long.

Tharos pointed out at the saber cats, and the bony beast went mad. It tore into the crowds of cats, skeletal paws flinging them away to crash, hundreds of yards away, into the walls of the canyon. The necromancer turned back to the group, and promptly fainted.

Rupert and Garou looked out into the canyon as Jezebel quickly read off the scroll. "I hope he knew what he was doing," the paladin muttered.

Garou nodded. "We'll find out when we come back, I suppose. At least it won't be able to reach us in here."

Erris overheard them, sniping back as she stepped through the portal, "We hope so, you mean."

At noon the next day, Tharos finally awakened. He looked around the room at the Inn, finally noticing Oksana asleep in a chair by the door. He managed to sit up, and took a drink of water from the jug next to the bed. The door latch clicked, and Oksana awoke as the others peeked into the room. "You're awake!" she blurted in surprise.

The necromancer nodded, his voice raspy and soft. "Yeah. Did we get out alright? What happened to the creeper?"

Rupert shuddered. "Is that what that bone monster was called? After you fainted, we dragged you back through the portal while it was playing football with the cats."

The necromancer nodded, again, then winced in pain. "My head hurts like I've been drinking that cask of wine again." Garou snickered from somewhere out in the hallway. "What time of day is it, anyway?"

Jezebel walked over and pulled open the curtains. "It's almost noon, why?"

Tharos smiled weakly. "Well, because the creeper should be destroyed by now. The magic dies when sunlight touches them." He tried to swing himself out of bed, and nearly fell right into Oksana's waiting arms.

Erris frowned at him. "Isn't that thing still under your control?"

He shook his head. "Not since I fainted. But like I said, direct sunlight destroys it." He stopped as the others all stared at him. "What?"

Erris rolled her eyes. "You'd just better hope that the creeper did get caught in sunlight. Because otherwise, we're in very big trouble."

They trooped back to the marketplace, and back through the portal to the tomb entrance. Waiting anxiously, they peered out at the bright desert day. But there seemed to be no dangerous monsters, and they climbed over the steaming pile of corpses, avoiding the small scavengers that picked away.

With weary resignation, they started north towards the other four tombs. The walk was slow in the shifting sands, but they made better time, despite the summer noonday heat. The first tomb was not what they wanted, nor the second.

As they left the second tomb, Erris looked up and almost screamed in shock. The others followed her pointing finger across the half-mile span of the canyon. In the other rock wall was a large crack, extending back for a few hundred feet. But of more interest, there at the front, barely in the shadows, was the creeper.

It paced back and forth, occasionally moving its mouth soundlessly, as they watched it. Erris turned on Tharos with a furious look. "Sure, it gets destroyed in daylight, huh? Didn't it occur to you that maybe the beast would find somewhere to hide from the sunlight?"

The group argued on for several minutes amongst themselves, as Rupert stood there and watched. Finally, he sat down on the sands, pulling out a polishing cloth and using it on the inside of his metal kite shield. He sat there, turning the shield one way and another, looking at the opposite wall of the canyon. Soon, the reflected light was shining on the creeper. The giant beast scuttled from side to side, trying to avoid it, though the reflected light seemed to have little effect.

But then, on one step, the creeper's foot collapsed, bones starting to break away. Rupert smiled grimly, keeping the light aimed, as it slowly fell apart, one bone at a time. When the whole pile lay there, unmoving and unresponsive to the light, he stood up. Refastening his shield to his arm, the paladin started away across the desert again.

Garou noticed him first. "Rupert! Where are you going?" he called after the paladin, confused. Without answering, the paladin simply pointed across the canyon. One by one, they all turned to regard the fallen pile of bones.

With a cry of surprise, they all ran after the paladin and onward to the next tomb. "How did you do that?" Jezebel asked him in surprise. But Rupert merely smiled enigmatically and said nothing.

Another hour later, they reached the third tomb. Stopping to rest, they examined the unremarkable front of the tomb, nearly scoured clean and smooth by the desert sands. "I sure hope this is it," Oksana muttered. "We don't even know where the seventh tomb is."

Ron Bars shrugged in response, stepping inside and walking down the entrance corridor. "This tomb!" he boomed back.

The others walked to the entrance. "How do you know that?" Erris asked. Her question died unanswered, as she saw the human skeletons lying in that corridor, most of them with broken javelins still stuck through their ribs. And above the archway was the carved star, the symbol of the last tomb. The barbarian stood there, leaning against the archway with his arms crossed.

Garou chuckled as he picked his way through the corridor to the stairs. But when he reached the archway, Ron Bars had disappeared. A roar echoed from below, and Jezebel groaned. "That combat hungry fool! Couldn't he have waited for the rest of us?"

They quickly joined the battle below, saber cats fighting in concert with wraiths. With the magical might to drive away the wraiths, they quickly freed the beleaguered barbarian, and set about exploring the tomb. Traps seemed to be almost scattered everywhere, but most of them had been disarmed to allow the cats safe passage.

Soon, they reached a room, deep within the tomb, with a strange stand in the middle of the room. After they had killed the last of the saber cats, Tharos circled it, examining the stand carefully. "Any idea what the heck this is for?"

Rupert nodded, pulling the Horadric staff from his backpack. "Cain gave this to us while you were sleeping. He said we're supposed to put it in the orifice, whatever that meant."

Jezebel pointed at the top of the stand. "Stick the bottom in here and let's see what happens."

They all gathered around carefully, even Kenny, watching Rupert carefully place the staff into the stand and lock it into place. Then the staff started to glow, and the room began to shake. They all backed away from the staff slowly. Then a bright light shot out of the staff, straight at Kenny, who squeaked in fear and dropped to the ground.

The light played over one wall, a mosaic of the capturing of the three Prime Evils. Slowly, a portion of the wall began to glow as well, until suddenly it collapsed, masonry and tiles flying everywhere. Kenny had just began to stand up when a giant claw lashed forth from the darkness.

"Looking for Baal?" the voice oozed from within the darkness.

Duriel pulled himself free from the opened room, blood dripping from one claw. The heroes swallowed nervously and prepared themselves for battle. But the demon's first move caught them by surprise. He lunged first at Tharos, and even as the necromancer intoned, Duriel swallowed him whole.

The others screamed in shock, and Erris let fly a half dozen arrows in the first second. Yet only one found a mark in the demon's tough hide, and both axe and claw tore into him with great reluctance.

The battle raged for close to a quarter hour, the heroes falling only at the very end, exhausted and wounded, and out of magical tricks. Duriel stood there, panting, blood oozing from dozens of wounds and scorch marks. The demon screamed out in satisfaction, roaring his victory over the champions of the light.

Then he suddenly stopped. The look of pain that crossed his face was grotesque, and hinted at dire possibilities for the demon. He clawed at his own sides, belching out infernal curses as the pain grew worse.

Then his abdomen sliced open from the inside, the small dagger in a human hand cutting open a hole. Duriel screamed, ripping himself open and plucking Tharos out. The necromancer's face was twisted, his skin blistered and burned from the acid within. Yet his dagger still dripped poison, and he lunged forward, burying it in Duriel's neck.

The demon coughed, sliding backwards and dropping Tharos to the floor. Slowly his eyes glazed, and the giant, bug-like body sagged to the floor, twitching limply for a moment before all was still.

The necromancer managed to somehow get back to his feet. He groped at his belt, and pulled forth a single vial. "Last one," he coughed out, and staggered over to Ron Bars. He fell heavily beside the barbarian, lifting up his head and pouring the vile red mixture down his throat.

Ron Bars coughed heavily as well, spitting out blood as the healing potion started to do its work. Tharos managed to sit up, leaning against the wall. "Your turn, get everyone healed. I suggest you don't use Duriel's body, due to the very large amount of poison that killed him." The barbarian nodded, staggering back into the main part of the tomb for corpses and his special healing power.

One by one, they all recovered, helped by Rupert's paladin skills as well. When they were all able to walk straight, they limped into the open room, past the sickly corpse of Duriel, and continued exploring.

The murals in this part of the tomb had been painted with astounding colors, possibly magical. The images of Tal Rasha and the capture of Baal almost leapt off the wall, and the heroes gazed around in wonder as they walked through the hall. Then, ahead rose up a red light, from a deep fissure. Spanning the fissure was a bridge, and on the other side was an obelisk with a shining figure tied to it.

Carefully they crossed the bridge, approaching the obelisk and the shining figure bound to it. But, head bowed in contemplation, the figure noticed them not at all. Finally, as the seven stood there in a circle (poor Kenny was still recovering from Duriel cutting him in twain), the glowing figure raised his head.

"Who the heck are you miscreants?" Tyrael asked.

Oksana looked at Rupert. "I say we leave him. Ungrateful angels." She turned and started to leave.

"Wait just a minute!" Tyrael boomed, his heavenly voice shaking the room. "I don't know who you are, but it you fought and defeated Duriel, you are obviously capable warriors. Just, your appearance …" The angel spread his shackled hands slightly. "You don't inspire confidence.

The group shared an annoyed look, before Rupert and Jezebel stepped forward to free Tyrael. Dogmeat barked happily from behind Garou, still favoring a wounded paw. The angel looked them all over again, and frowned. "How did you know to look in this tomb?"

Jezebel shrugged. "We've had some help from Cain and Drognan."

Tyrael nodded. "I see. I suggest you travel on to Kurast. Since that is where Mephisto was imprisoned, I believe that was where Diablo and Baal were headed. Now, if you'll excuse me -"

"Wait!" Jezebel cried. Tyrael paused to regard her. "You don't have a scroll of town portal, do you?"

He closed his eyes, almost as though pausing to ask for strength. A portal opened on the bridge, and he vanished.

Erris looked at the portal, and sighed. "Kurast. Middle of the jungle. Lots of mosquitoes, from what I hear. Do we have to go there?"

Garou chuckled, patting her on the back consolingly, as they stepped back into town.

As they stepped through the portal and into town, the people started up a great cheer. To their great surprise, the seven were hoisted upon shoulders and carried to the palace, with Kenny trundling along behind them. Jehryn stood there atop the gleaming palace steps, Drognan and Cain flanking him.

They were put down, and walked to the base of the steps. In a loud voice, Jehryn proclaimed, "My people! Look upon these seven warriors, who despite the odds against them have defeated Duriel, and cleared the desert sands of many the demons that threatened us. Give them a great cheer, before they continue on their journey to stop Diablo!"

The people, as commanded, gave a rousing shout, making the walls around them tremble. They all smiled, as Jehryn gestured for them to ascend the steps. As they reached the top, he gave them each a handshake, the crown cheering louder with each one. As he reached Erris, she asked, "No reward?"

Jehryn smiled predatorily. "After you looted my palace cellars, and allowed Diablo and Baal to escape, be glad I don't throw you in a gibbet out in the desert. Set sail with Meshif and don't come back!" He almost shouted the last few words through a clenched smile, but they were barely audible over the crowd.

With the ceremony over, they did head for the docks, the seven heroes walking along with Cain. Rupert turned to the old sage, saying, "There's still one thing I don't understand. When we destroyed the altar in the Claw Viper temple, wasn't that supposed to end all the curses?"

Cain frowned at him, nodding. "It did. Why do you ask?"

Rupert shrugged. "Just wondering why Kenny still kept coming back to life."

Cain rolled his eyes. "Because he was too stupid to realize that the curse was lifted!"

He angrily thrust his way ahead of them, stalking forward onto the docks. Rupert looked at the others and shrugged. "Wonder how long it'll take us to get to Kurast?"

Garou grinned at Ron Bars. "I don't know, but I hope there's enough wine for the trip!"


	7. Act 3: A Heavenly scene, the Jade Statue

**Act Three**

Tyrael appeared in Heaven. The souls of the goodly humans stared momentarily, before continuing with their assigned tasks. The fight against Hell and the forces of evil was never ending, and required much work. Even the dead could not rest and bask in paradise.

He strode through the shining streets of gold and marble, until at last he found the building he wished. From the outside, it appeared to be a rather non-descript library, the architecture a sort of neo-classical Greek. Tyrael strode up the steps, furling his wings in as he stepped through the open doorway. He stopped to look around the shelves of books and scrolls, then headed for the back of the library.

He found Hadriel where he expected, sorting through tomes of demonic lore and tales of human magic. As the lesser angel looked up, Tyrael grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off his feet. Hadriel looked down at him almost with pity, and fluttered his wings briefly. "That's not very effective, you know."

Tyrael scowled, and tossed him down again. "I'm angry. What the hell happened to my plans? I had everything set up for a single hero to show up at the Rogue camp, drive out Andariel and catch Diablo before he reached Baal's tomb. Instead, I get that group of … of …"

Hadriel chuckled, leaning back in his chair and putting sandaled feet on the table. "Miscreants? Misfits? Oddballs? Rejects? Well, sorry to disappoint you, but Belial found out about your little hero first. That's what happened to him." Hadriel pointed at the table, and an illusion sprang into being. The warrior was there, hanging from a gibbet, every bone in his arms and legs broken. "I won't tell you all that they did to him, and I had to put together something really fast."

Tyrael scowled, his hand sweeping away the illusion. "So you grabbed whatever came to hand?"

The other angel scoffed. "Hardly. I drew up a table and rolled a die." As Tyrael's scowl deepened, he relented. "No, I looked around the world to see who was available. Despite their appearance, their skills complement them very well. And the fact that Belial was actively campaigning to destroy them helped as well."

Tyrael rocked back in surprise. "The Lord of Lies recognized them as a threat?"

Hadriel threw up his hands. "Gabriel has been working non-stop to make sure the forces of Hell don't get any reinforcements, either. They're on their own, but they seem to be more than capable of stopping Diablo and Baal."

Tyrael nodded. "Interesting …" He stepped forward, and put a hand on Hadriel's shoulder. "Sorry. I was just shocked to see such a misbegotten group walking into Tal Rasha's tomb."

Hadriel snickered. "Anytime, Tyrael." The senior angel quietly left the library, headed out into Heaven to continue his research into Diablo's plans.

The boat pulled up on the dock at Kurast, and the seven heroes quickly piled off. Jezebel fell to her knees and kissed the salty wood. "Please, dear angels in Heaven, never again put me out on the ocean!"

Garou laughed as Dogmeat flopped down beside the sorceress, whining and licking her face as she tried to squirm away. "I know he agrees with you," the druid joked as she tried to fend off the mutt.

Their banter stopped as a man approached. Though his clothing seemed rather well-worn, he carried himself with an aura that spoke of authority. He looked at them for a moment, then scowled. "Well?" he asked.

The group exchanged several confused glances. "Well what?" Rupert asked.

"Well, aren't you going to start unloading the boat now? You are the laborers, correct?" He looked down his nose at them.

Erris surged forward, but Tharos and Oksana were ready for her, grabbing her arms. "Let me at him, dangit! After being trapped on that rickety pile of driftwood, I'm ready for a fight!"

Rupert turned back to the man with a frown. "I don't know who you are, but we're not laborers. We're here with Deckard Cain to track down Diablo."

The man rocked back on his heels, and examined them all again. "My name is Hratli, and I am in charge of these docks, all that is left of glorious Kurast. I am afraid that even if we recover your bodies, we have nothing but a watery burial to offer you."

They once again had to hold Erris back, fuming. Rupert shrugged and tried to smile. "Don't worry about it. After facing down Andariel and Duriel, I think we stand a chance."

Hratli smiled a very thin smile. "If you say so. Well, if you need any equipment, my forge is on one of the more stable areas of the docks. Feel free to ask any of the other merchants around the docks as well." He turned away, and walked away across the creaking, salt-encrusted boards into the fog.

Oksana finally let go of Erris' arm. "Please, don't go picking any fights until we're out into the jungle after Diablo, alright? You'll have plenty of demons to slay, I'm sure." The amazon scowled and huffed, but they all followed Cain as he departed the ship and started his way through the docks.

The main area of the docks looked to be a former stepped temple, sunken into the water. A tall figure rose out of the fog to confront them, dressed in red and black robes. They were held together with an elegant gold pin, and a staff at first hid his face from view. But he approached Rupert, and took him carefully by the arm. "Captain," he said in a flat, emotionless voice, "I must have a word with you."

Rupert looked up at him oddly. "What? I'm no captain."

Oksana stepped up and reached for his pointed ears. "Are those real?"

But the figure carefully moved out of her reach, and looked back at Rupert. "Don't worry Captain, we can talk again later." He moved back into the fog, and they heard him say "Highly illogical," as he vanished into the thick cover.

Tharos glanced at Garou. "Well?"

The druid shrugged. "Don't ask me. Doesn't strike me as unusual."

Oksana looked at him oddly. "He had pointed ears. And he talked oddly. You don't find that unusual?"

He shrugged again. "I've met worse, you know."

Erris growled at all of them. "Can we get on with it? I want to kill lots of demons to make me forget the month we just spent on the boat!"

Tharos chuckled dryly as they fumbled through the thick fog.

They emerged off the docks onto the marshy ground of the jungle not too far away. "You sure this is the right way?" Oksana asked.

Erris grinned darkly as she put an arrow to her bow. "This is fine. We can talk to the other merchants when I've had a chance to calm down and kill a few things first."

Ron Bars pointed ahead through the foggy day, and they rushed forward, weapons at the ready. Ahead of them in the gloom walked a cloaked figure, shrouded in darkness. Rupert called at the man to stop, and he hesitated only momentarily. With a wave of his hand, the figure vanished, and sickly lights sparkled through the fog like a collection of will-o'-the-wisps. But when the lights touched the marshy grass, they burst.

Demon worms sprang from the lights with a snarl, fanged mouths open and gaping for food. The worms were hardly a challenge to the heroes, but the distraction had cost them. The strange figure had vanished into the jungle and the fog.

Oksana looked around warily. "Maybe we should go back now?"

Even Erris didn't complain this time. They slowly backed into the city again, weapons at the ready the entire way.

Once safely behind the spiked barricades, they turned and tried a different walkway. Through the fog they could see the red glow of Hratli's forge, but Oksana let out a squeal and dashed away in another direction. "Natalya!"

The woman in question turned, her cape flaring, and gasped in surprise. They embraced each other fiercely, before Natalya pushed her away. "What are you doing here, girl? I thought they kicked you out just before I finished training."

Oksana grinned. "They did. I ended up near the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye, helped my friends here fight off Andariel, faced down Duriel, and came here looking for Diablo and Baal."

"Baal? You mean Tal Rasha has escaped his tomb?" She drew in a long and nervous breath. "Aw, crap. I hope my next carrier pigeon gets through."

Rupert blinked as he heard that, walking up behind Oksana. "Carrier pigeon?"

Natalya seemed to choose her words carefully. "Yes, I'm here as a scout, to determine whether or not we should hire an army to put down the madness that engulfed the Council. It will likely take a great deal of effort, but Cain has said a few things that might help us."

Jezebel shook her head, slightly confused. "We leave for five minutes, and the whole town converses about everything behind our backs."

The elder assassin patted her consolingly. "Don't worry about it too much. If the lot of you actually faced down Andariel and Duriel, you certainly have my wishes for good luck in tracking down Diablo and Baal. The jungle has overtaken half the city in the last few years, but if you head southeast, you should be able to find something pointing you towards the capital."

"Well, thanks for the advice," Tharos said hurriedly. "We'd best talk with Cain ourselves, and head back out there." He led the group away, Oksana glaring harshly at him.

Garou spoke up first, however. "You want to find out what Cain told her about defeating Diablo and Baal?"

He nodded. "Not to mention, if the whole city has gone crazy, then Mephisto must be involved as well. Tyrael said this was where the soulstone was left for safe-keeping."

Oksana fumed slightly less as they walked back across the rickety docks to where Cain stood. "So, what do we need to do?" Rupert asked.

The old sage regarded them carefully. "This is not going to be easy. If the three brothers are together here, and they likely are, then this battle will be like nothing you have ever encountered before."

They stood there and gave Cain condescending looks until he relented. "From what the townsfolk have said, one of the Council members did not fall under the reign of madness that engulfed the city. But Khalim was butchered by the others, and his body scattered around the city. Some of it is undoubtedly in the jungle that has overtaken the city so quickly."

Erris looked skeptical. "You want us to find the pieces of this dead guy?"

He nodded. "I believe that the angels have prevented the body parts from decaying. If you can find me the pieces of his body, I might be able to use the cube you found to recombine them into a weapon, that will show you where Mephisto's lair is."

Jezebel shivered. "Sounds creepy." Cain just gave her a sardonic smile. With a sigh, she hefted her staff, and turned back towards the entrance to the jungle. "Well, let's be off then. I hate this place already."

The others followed her, Rupert favoring his now-bruised shin.

They journeyed back into the forest, through the rapidly crumbling buildings past the edge of the docks. The land was wet and marshy, and their boots were quickly saturated with water. The fog did not lift at all, so they moved almost in their own little world. The trees and vines grew so dense in some places to be harder and thicker than a castle's stone walls.

They wandered almost aimlessly through the jungle for hours, fighting the midget-like Slayers that abounded. Occasionally, giant mosquitoes would zoom out of the fog as well, only to be felled by an arrow or a vicious axe swipe. Finally, as their progress was once again halted by a wall of trees, Erris screamed in frustration and outrage.

"What in the blazing hells is wrong with this place? There's less direction around here than there was in the rogue catacombs!" She paced as she ranted, finally kicking one of the trees.

The tree came alive under her foot, twisting around to regard her with beady, glowing eyes. Ron Bars roared, rushing in to protect her from a descending branch, and buried his axe deep into the tree. But the axe then stuck in place, held tightly by the sap.

Other trees started to move as well, breaking up the wall, as the behemoths turned to regard the insignificant humans that had interrupted their slumber. The heroes quickly retreated to form a circle, Dogmeat whining in the center. "Anything you can do, Garou? I mean, you're the druid here." Rupert looked at him hopefully.

The druid chuckled sardonically. "Yeah, aim for the eyes. That's about their only weak spot."

"Those eyes are ten feet above my head, in case you hadn't noticed." Rupert looked up as the moving trees slowly surrounded them.

Erris shrugged, aiming and firing an arrow. With a soft, whooshing sound, one of the trees collapsed, turning to ash as they watched. "Wow," she commented, fitting another arrow to the string.

But the trees moved faster then, one of them swinging a massive, barbed branch at the group. They all ducked, except Ron Bars. Instead, the barbarian swung his axe at the branch, and again the blade buried itself deeply. But the momentum from the branch smashed into him, picking him up and throwing him at another tree. They batted him around the group, before letting him drop at Jezebel's feet, battered and covered in lacerations from the barbed branches.

Erris fired two more arrows, but the last three trees had them hemmed in. Almost as one, they all lifted massive branches, poised to bring them crashing down and squash the intruders. But Oksana flicked her wrist three times, very quickly, sending inferno traps high into the branches. The traps deployed right away, setting the trees alight, even in the damp, foggy air. As the trees stumbled about, trying to put themselves out, Erris managed to pick them off quickly.

The group carefully picked themselves up, and prepared to continue their exploration. But as they started, Jezebel tripped over something, falling with a splat to the saturated grass. As Garou helped her up, he also picked up the small figurine she had tripped over. "Well, look at this little thing," he said as he held it aloft.

The green jade sparkled in the faint light, carved into the shape of some bird, wings outstretched. Jezebel ran a hand along one wing, admiring it. "What should we do with it?"

"Well, Meshif has quite a little collection of similar statuettes in his cabin." At her questioning glance, he chuckled and blushed. "I noticed them while we were drinking one night."

With a humph, Jezebel turned to follow the rest of the group deeper into the jungle.


	8. Ghidbinn, the Tome, and Khalim's Will

Night didn't really fall, but rather snuck up on the party. In the thick, warm fog that blanketed the jungle, the light seemed to simply slowly leech away, until the group could hardly see their own feet, let along the trees of the jungle. Rupert cautiously called the group together.

Erris wearily rubbed a hand across her sweaty forehead. "Now what? It's darker here than a moonless night in the bottom of a cave." She stopped, swearing, as she swatted a mosquito.

Jezebel conjured a ball of magelight to the end of her staff, but it did little to dispel the gloom. Tharos gasped, however, pointing at the ground not far away. "Look at all those webs!"

They moved forward slowly, as Rupert and Ron Bars lit torches to help guide their way again. Garou knelt by the webs, carefully examining them. "These must be big spiders," he said, using a small stick to lift up the thick, gooey strand. Oksana shivered, and carefully tossed two sentries forward into the dark.

But the expected blast of fire did not come, and Rupert led the party forward again. The webs grew thicker, almost blanketing the ground. Some were covered in dead leaves, and in a few places they could see the gnawed skeletons of whatever poor souls had been trapped when the jungle engulfed the city.

Then one of the inferno traps suddenly fired, the gout of flame incinerating webs and the horse-sized spider that had crawled out an almost invisible hole. With a piercing keen, the arachnid collapsed, legs burned clean away and internal fluids bubbling under the assault. Erris put an arrow through the spider for good measure, splattering the charred webs with fetid entrails.

Even Ron Bars looked disgusted at the sight, and Dogmeat whined in protest, shaking his head and sneezing. Jezebel looked disparingly at the hole, then turned to Rupert. "Please tell me we are not going down there." The paladin said nothing, and she turned back with a curse.

Tharos waved his wand forward, and his sole skeleton clattered forward. Taking the torch from Rupert, the bony minion stepped forward into the hole, climbing down the rather steep ramp to the bottom. As the skeleton moved forward into the burrow, Tharos closed his eyes to better concentrate.

Two spiders arose out of the darkness, clacking their mandibles. As its master directed, the skeleton carefully set down the torch, and fire sprang up around its hands. One spider moved forward, only to be met with a blazing throw from the skeleton. Frantic, painful keening echoed out to the heroes, and Tharos opened his eyes. "Well, they know we're up here."

Ron Bars hefted his axes, and with a war cry, charged down into the burrow. The skeleton was being torn apart, even as it melted chitinous armor. But the first group of spiders fell with surprising ease. Oksana wiped away some green residue, and shuddered. "Did I mention I hate bugs?" She shook her hand, trying to rid it of the filth.

Elsewhere in the burrow, they could hear others awakening to the threat in their midst. Erris turned and asked, "Well? Can you raise another skeleton?"

He raises his eyebrows, and pointed at the pile of dead spiders. "Out of what? No bones, no skeletons. If those damn pigmies in the jungle weren't so damn small, this would have been easier." Tharos changed his grip on his wand, and lowered it offensively, launching a half dozen bony teeth at the first skeleton that appeared.

Oksana pushed them forward. "This spot is too open, we need to find a better spot!" Indeed, the ramp had opened into a very open area, with almost a dozen tunnels branching away into the darkness. They ran forth, even as spiders seemed to burst out of the very walls.

The burrow was nothing but a giant maze, and the supply of monsters seemed endless. Garou rubbed at a spot on his muzzle where a swooping bat had hit him with electrified claws. But finally, they reached a dead end, and turned to confront the other monsters following them.

As the light shone forth, it illuminated barely a half dozen spiders, most showing small wounds. In surprise, the heroes paused, and the monsters skittered forth to attack. But a simple fireball cast the arachnids back, burning away legs and armor, and the quick volley of teeth and arrows finished off the last ones.

Garou snorted as he reverted to human form, cautiously rubbing the burned spot on his cheek. "Well, that was a tad surprising." Oksana chuckled at him, and again took the lead to try and explore the burrow in a more seemly manner. They carefully checked all the tunnels, and finally ended up facing a small chest, festooned in webs and coated with soil.

Erris looked down at it. "Well, let's see what's inside." Setting aside her bow, she knelt down to pop the latch. But as the webs around it broke, a sudden skittering made them all look up.

A giant spider, easily the size of a bear, appeared at the edge of their circle. The torchlight highlighted purple and orange swirls in the spider's exoskeleton, and the multiple eyes stared at them blankly. But even as the group hefted their weapons, the beast skittered forward, charging straight into Rupert and blasting him back against a wall. Erris desperately dove away as the spider went right over the chest.

A lightning bolt ricocheted from its armor, and it caught one axe in its mandibles. But the beast was outnumbered, as a hail of teeth knocked chips from its shell, and werewolf strength tore away one leg, then a second. Oksana carefully ducked under the captured axe, and forced a firebomb up into the spider's mandibles, and the beast swallowed by reflex. With a muffled boom, the shell was instantly covered in a network of cracks, liquefied organs oozing out of the edges.

After looking at the dead beast, Tharos stumbled away and puked. Dogmeat licked his face as he recovered, and the heroes again circled around the chest. This time, though, Jezebel flipped open the lid with her staff, miraculously not striking anyone in the process.

Ron Bars held up a torch and pulled out the contents - a small pouch full of gold, and a surprisingly preserved liver. As the barbarian moved to take a bite out of it, Erris grabbed his arm. "Don't eat that, you uncultured fool! That must be one of Khalim's body parts that Cain sent us to find!"

He slowly lowered it, then sniffed it. With a shrug, he tossed it at Erris, who almost dropped it. "Smell good," he boomed, slightly uphappily. Jezebel shook her head sadly as she intoned the scroll, opening the now-familiar swirling blue portal.

Back in town, Cain's eyes did indeed light up at the sight of the liver. "Yes, Khalim's liver! This is an excellent start." The sage promptly opened up the cube, and dumped it inside.

"What the heck do we need his liver for?" Erris asked, dubiously.

"Because the liver is important for screening out poisons in the body. Metaphysically, it will help the weapon to screen out the poison that Mephisto has spread through Kurast." He smiled smugly, and she promptly ignored him.

They trooped across the docks toward Meshif's ship, and woke him up. Garou held up the jade figurine. "We found this on a homicidal tree in the jungle," the druid explained. "I know you collect stuff like this, so I figure we can make a trade."

The ship captain examined the figurine carefully, then nodded. "Sure thing. Say, what about that golden bird I have? It doesn't really fit in with anything else I own." As the others nodded happily, he ducked back into his cabin, returning with it. "Hope you find something better than melting it down, though."

Jezebel waved jauntily as they left the boat. "Don't worry about it, Meshif!" He merely grumbled in response and went back to his bunk.

They showed the golden bird to Cain. "Well, I once heard a story about the sage named Ku'Leh having his ashes put into a golden bird statue. Maybe you should show it to the alchemist, Alkor."

They asked him for directions, and set off across the docks. Everyone except Rupert, however, for he had drifted over to where Ormus stood. With a raised eyebrow, Ormus acknowledged him. "I did wonder when you would stop by to talk with me, captain."

"Why do you keep calling me captain? And what did you want to talk about?" Rupert felt slightly frustrated already.

Ormus led him over to a small pedestal, or possibly an altar. The stone was covered in a number of magical symbols, some carved into it, and others seeming to float on the surface. "As you can see, captain, the strength of the shields is rapidly failing around the docks. Unless we find a new power source, they will fail in approximately ten days."

Rupert blinked in confusion a few times, staring at the stone. "The spell holding the jungle at bay, you mean? Well, what am I supposed to do about it?"

Ormus' face never changed. "The locals have talked of a device called the Ghidbinn. If the reports are correct, Hratli and I could modify the shields to use the power embodied in the device. But the Ghidbinn was lost when the city was overrun."

Rupert kept staring at the stone. The sigils had an almost hypnotic effect. "So you want me to find this Ghidbinn, and bring it here to you?"

"Yes, captain. With a new power source, the city will be able to hold out for at least another year. Even if you fail at your attempt at infiltrating the enemy stronghold, the non-combatants here will be safe until reinforcements can arrive from Starfleet."

Rupert turned away from the stone. "From where? Never mind, I don't think I want to know." He shook his head irritably. "Fine, I'll try to find this Ghidbinn while we're out in the jungle."

The others approached Alkor's shack. Despite the rickety appearance, light speared out from the shack, and the beaded curtain kept them from seeing the inside. Oksana stepped up and pushed it aside, then gasped in wonder.

They stepped in, marveling at the shelves inside, carrying any number of mundane goods and foods the normal population was bound to need. Behind a counter was a strange machine, turning two different colored liquids. Then Alkor popped up from behind the counter. "'allo! Welcome to Quik-E-Mart! All slurpees today half price." He stood behind the counter beaming at them.

With very confused glances, Garou advanced upon the counter and placed the golden bird atop it. "Cain said something about this statue and a sage named Ku'Leh?"

Alkor's eyes widened, and he picked up the bird. Turning it upside down, he pulled out the cork on the bottom. "Yes indeedi, this has the ashes of Ku'Leh! Hold on while I am making for you a special slurpee!"

He pulled the lid off of the strange machine, and dumped the ashes into one side. Puttering around behind the counter, he added a few other things, then replaced the lid and sat back to wait. Within a few minutes, the liquid had changed color from red to a rich, royal purple, and he jumped up again.

Pulling out seven small, paper cups (as Rupert had entered the shack by then), he emptied that side of the machine into the cups, put a straw in each one, and passed them out to the heroes. Ron Bars looked at the straw, then promptly downed the entire cup in a single swallow. "Good drink!" He boomed heartily, then whimpered and grabbed the back of his neck. "Cold," he boomed, though quieter, and coughed through the constricted throat.

The others finished more slowly, and with smaller effects than the poor barbarian. As they headed out the beaded curtain, Alkor called after them, "Quik-E-Mart, always open! Prices best in Kurast!"

Garou led them across the weathered docks toward the largest building around, where they seemed likely to find some room to sleep. "Well, that was interesting," he said.

Jezebel smiled at him. "Problem?"

The druid creased his eyebrows. "Nothing really, I just didn't think artificial grape flavoring had been invented yet."

They stepped into the large building. It looked like a former warehouse, before everyone had moved in. Iron Wolf mercenaries sat around, sharpening swords, practicing magic, or napping. Their leader, Asheara, sat on a stool, arguing with some of her men. As they approached, all of the men dropped their jaws, and Oksana whistled. Asheara was wearing barely enough to cover her decently, and all of her attire was made of burnished copper armor.

She looked over her shoulder at the whistle, and glared at the group. Finishing her conversation abruptly, she turned to look them over. "You must be those heroes everyone has been talking about. I'm Asheara, and these are my Iron Wolves. What the hell do you want?" She cautiously fingered the sword that hung from her waist.

Oksana started to speak, but Tharos and Rupert both clapped hands over her mouth. Jezebel stepped to the front of the group, and greeted her by conjuring a globe of magelight. Asheara chuckled and nodded. "At least one of you is worth something. What do you need from me? I can't spare anyone, if that's what you wanted."

Jezebel shook her head. "No, just looking for a place to sleep for the night, and this looked like the best place around."

"That's not a problem. Look around, find a comfortable spot of floor. I'd offer the upper story, but it's packed with the last of the goods that were in here." She waved a hand in dismissal, and walked away to a different part of the building.

Garou shrugged and peered around. "Well, that didn't go too badly." Several of the Iron Wolves had sized them up, and returned to their activities. He pointed to the rear of the long building. "Let's try to find someplace for the night."

Despite the chatter of several dozen mercenaries and the roughness of the conditions, they slept remarkably well. As the sun arose, brightening the everpresent fog, they took weapons in hand and stepped back through the portal, into the jungle.

They quickly made their way out of the spider burrow, back into the muggy fog and blurred outlines of the jungle. With determined resignation, they continued into the jungle, forcing their way east. As the sun rose higher into the sky, they again began encountering the violent, midget natives.

As Ron Bars and Garou strove to keep the little bastards down, Tharos tapped Erris on the shoulder. "See those two standing together?" He pointed at them, one wearing a garishly ugly mask, standing on the other's shoulders.

She frowned, arrow still held at the ready. "Yeah, so what?"

"Kill the one on the bottom." He readied his wand, and she shook her head, aimed, and fired. The fetish dropped heavily, his companion landing on top of him with an angry shout. A moment later, the corpse exploded, spattering everyone with blood and flesh.

"Impressive," Erris admitted, plucking a bone shard out of her chain mail. Tharos gave a mock bow, then animated a few midget skeletons together, combining them for height. As the skeletons rose, fire sprang into being around their hands. With the way currently cleared, they again went exploring.

The day wore on into midafternoon, when Tharos stopped the party. In confusion they waited, as his skeletons slowly clattered forward into the fog, vanishing from sight swiftly. "What is it, Tharos?" Oksana asked, wiping blood from her cestus.

In response, they heard the echo of several fire blasts. "Zombies," he muttered, "animated drowned zombies. Unfortunately resistant to fire." They headed forth, now warned of what lay ahead.

They came upon the zombies swiftly, gathered in a circle, pounding away at the skeletons. Indeed, the blasts of fire did not do much but raise clouds of steam from the walking corpses. Jezebel stepped forward, raised her staff, and blasted them with a massive bolt of lightning.

The charge jumped from one to another, round and round the circle, moving faster and faster as Jezebel motioned with her staff. The water logged zombies were trapped in place by the energy, pulsing and lighting the area with a harsh blue light. Finally, Jezebel stamped the end of her staff into the ground, and the lightning ended with a crack. Almost as one, the zombies wavered and crashed to the ground. Garou clapped his paws together, and Dogmeat barked happily.

Chuckling, Tharos reanimated his skeletons. With sweat pouring off them from the afternoon heat, they stepped into the Great Marsh.

They slogged through the marshy ground, often stopping to try and find firmer ground, tramping across tufts of grass to avoid the knee-deep puddles of leaf-covered mud. But as the fog again began to darken, they stepped onto a sudden area of firm ground. To either side of the tree-walled corridor were numerous carved pillars of stone. "Fetish territory," Oksana muttered.

Indeed, as they continued down the corridor, the pygmy warriors appeared from the trees, firing sharpened darts from cover. But arrow, trap, and spell soon sent them fleeing in retreat. More and more warriors came running out, wielding knives the size of their heads, trying desperately to halt the heroes advance.

But despite the resistance, they soon reached the village that the Fetish were trying to defend. Crude huts, covered in leather skin, housed their women and babes. But the seven showed no mercy, as all the monsters capable of holding a weapon charged at them.

Before long, the scattered remnant of the Flayer tribe were fleeing into the jungle, and the heroes let them run. They started exploring the village, moving around scorched huts and giant cauldrons with human bones still in them. Before long, Ron Bars pointed into the fog. "What that?" he boomed, and they moved to the center of the village to get a closer look.

Out of the fog rose an altar, designed for display, not sacrifice. Strung up with threads of sinew was a remarkable golden dagger. It actually glowed with its own light, and the fog kept back from the altar. "That must be the Ghidbinn!" Rupert said with surprise. In reply to the others' blank looks, he elaborated. "Ormus said he can use it to strengthen the protective spell on the docks."

Rupert stepped forward confidently, reaching for the altar and the dagger. But just before his hand reached it, a pygmy warrior swung down from the trees, snatching the weapon and zipping away on his vine. "Hey! Give that back, you little monster!" Rupert shouted.

The warrior dropped to the ground on the other side of the village, and slowly the surviving Flayer tribe formed up around him. The leader piped something in their strange tongue, and in a mass, they charged. Jezebel threw up a fire wall in their path, but the dagger cleaved a hole right through it.

This battle did not rage for long. The other pygmies dropped quickly, not having any protection from the incredible forces the heroes used. Yet their leader, with the Ghidbinn, fought on. Not until they had him surrounded, attacking from all sides, did he finally fall.

They stared down at the miniature corpse, and one of Tharos' skeletons clattered over, burning away the hand that still held the Ghidbinn. Erris cautiously picked it up, and slipped it into her belt. "Thank the angels these little bastards won't be bothering us anymore. Now what?"

"Jail!" Ron Bars boomed. He led the others to the edge of the village, and pointed at a large metal grate, covering a deep pit in the ground. "Little bastard jail, more liver?" Garou nodded slowly, and the two of them released the locks holding the grate in place.

With a loud clang, it swung down, forming a ladder into the depths. Rupert lit a torch and dropped it to the bottom, where it sputtered on the damp, mossy stone. The skeletons hurled themselves to the bottom as well, reforming as the others climbed down. Tharos sniffed the air and peered around in the gloom. "It's not that bad," he said. Oksana looked at him incredulously. "Well, I'm not saying I'd like to build a summer home here, but the moss is actually quite lovely."

Erris muttered something insulting and took the lead, heading down the sloping passage deeper into the dungeon.

Somewhere several dozen feet below the surface, Rupert cursed and stumbled backwards, wiping blood from his eye. "Damn those skeletons!" he said, holding still as Tharos plucked the bone shard from his forehead. "Why do they have to explode when we hit them?"

"I don't know, but it's not easy to animate skeletons like that." They stopped to look at the grate blocking the end, and waved to Ron Bars and Garou. The two moved to the front of the group, taking careful grips on it. One pulled and one pushed, and the grate popped free of the wall with an agonized screech of metal. They leaned it up against the wall, and they group started forward again. "I hate this maze," Tharos muttered as his skeletons threw fireballs at another batch of exploding fetish skeletons.

Before long, they reached a large room, close to the center of the dungeon. As they stepped out of the corridor, eight pairs of eyes lit up. The painted masks of the Fetish shamans leered at them from the darkness, and all of them lifted their arms at the same time.

The heroes dove back into the corridor, as eight bursts of flame shot towards them, combining into one blazing, white-hot jet. Erris fired arrows back, but the flames turned them to ash. Retreating swiftly in the face of the fire, they missed the turn in the corridor, and ended up against another grate. "We're trapped!" Jezebel screamed in fear.

Garou shrugged in melancholy, and reached for his belt. In surprise, he pulled off a small bottle. "Well, how about that. I've still got some of old Lysander's sacramental wine. What the heck." He upended the bottle, chugging it swiftly. It hit his stomach like a brick of ice, and he turned, coughing out.

His breath whooshed forward, ice crystals forming in the air. To his surprise, it beat down the jets of flame. With the druid forcing the cold air out, they advanced into the weakened flames. The masks revealed nothing of the shaman's surprise, but as a flying axe almost split one in two, they screamed in their peculiar language, redoubling their efforts.

But with the druid's breath keeping the flames down to almost nothing, Erris felled the shamans one after another. The last one retreated, still casting gouts of fire, trying to get them around Garou as the druid did his best to freeze him solid. Finally, the shaman tripped over something, and Ron Bars sprang forward, bringing his remaining axe down with a sickening crunch.

It turned out the shaman had tripped over another chest, nearly identical to the first. They opened it up, and Oksana gasped in surprise, as Rupert turned a beet red. "Well, no wonder he was a most important priest," she said, her eyes wide. "Can I keep it?"

"No."

"But -"

"No. It goes to Cain." Very gingerly, Rupert pulled out Khalim's manhood, and swiftly dropped it into his pack, wiping his hand clean on his pants. "Please tell me the next part is something fairly normal."

Oksana pouted at him, as they trooped through another portal back to town.

Back on the safety of the docks, Rupert carefully handed the next body part out to Cain, who opened the box and had him drop it in. "Don't tell us, we really don't want to know." Rather glum, they trooped around the corner of the sunken temple to where Ormus stood.

Erris pulled the Ghidbinn from her belt and handed it to the pointy-eared man. "Here, we liberated this from a couple of short freaks." He took the dagger silently, and turned to the stone nearby. Silently he placed it above the stone, and the dagger began hovering there, spinning slowly. As Ormus touched several of the glowing sigils, golden and blue sparks began shooting from the dagger, slowly forming into a sphere of light.

With a silent shock wave, magic shot out to the edge of the dock. The ever-present fog on the docks slowly dissipated, and they could see faint sparks outlining the docks, bright blue and muted gold. "Wow," Jezebel whispered. "I've never seen anything like that."

Ormus nodded solemnly to her. "It should hold the evil at bay much more efficiently." He turned away, climbing the top of the stone temple to gaze out into the jungle. In impressed silence, they headed across the docks to Asheara's building for the night.

Inside, she met them. "I felt the wards on the docks improving. You had something to do with that?" As Jezebel nodded smugly, she continued. "Well, now that fewer of the Iron Wolves are needed here on the docksides, I might be able to spare one to help guide you. When I decide who, I'll tell you in the morning."

In better spirits, they again headed for the rear of the warehouse to rest for the night.

As they prepared to leave that morning, Asheara met them at the doorway. "This is Jelani," she said, and he bowed. "He volunteered to go with you and guide you to Travincal." She turned and walked away, and Jelani shrugged. Ice crystals danced in the air around him.

With their local guide now leading the party, they ascended out of the Flayer dungeon and followed Jelani south. "Not all of the city has vanished," he explained, using his sword to hack through the jungle vines. "Travincal, much of the bazaar, and parts of the city around there have been kept clean. Mostly because the corrupted citizens are still there."

As they approached the still-clear part of Lower Kurast, they could hear it for themselves. Occasionally, the wind would carry to them a voice, half-mad with hatred or jealousy. Then before them, the fog cleared slightly, and they could see into the city. A man stood there, hunched over, striking at the ground repeatedly with a rusty halberd.

They stood there for a moment, watching silently as the man ranted nonsensically. Finally, Munin cawed from his perch on a jungle tree, and the man started. He lifted his weapon cautiously, peering around in the gloom. "Who's there?" he rasped out, swinging the halberd back and forth. "Who is it?" Deep scratches covered his face, one of them right over an eye.

Then the man caught sight of them, and screamed in fury. He charged, only to be met by an ice bolt, followed by a swift sword thrust from Jelani. In disgust, the mercenary wiped his sword clean. "Only thing to do. Can't sneak past them, and there's no way around through the jungle."

In silence, they walked past the body into the city, frost on the man's face slowly vanishing in the hot jungle air.

To their relief, the city had fewer humans than expected. Demonic vultures abounded though, and more trees uprooted themselves and attacked the heroes. But Jelani led them straight through, and before long they had reached the bridge to the bazaar. "Once we reach the Bazaar, we should go through the sewers."

Jezebel shuddered at the thought. "Do we have to go through the sewers? Especially in this climate?"

He shrugged. "We think that the corrupted Zakarum took another body part down there. Plus, we can go almost straight to Travincal through the sewers. It'll be a shortcut."

"Why do I feel nervous after hearing that," Erris muttered to herself.

But their luck seemed to hold, as they dashed a short way into the bazaar, and down a set of worn stone steps, and into a small access tunnel to the sewers. Below, in the darkness, they lit torches and magical lights to lead their way.

Unlike the sewers of Lut Gholein, these were open, with stone-lined trenches carrying water and waste out to the rivers. They wandered through the darkness, occasionally fighting against more Flayer skeletons and giant bats. They stopped at one spot to rest, and Oksana sat down next to a pile of garbage. "Even if that other part of Khalim is down here, it'll take us forever to find it at this rate," she grumbled.

As she leaned back, the pile shifted, several pieces toppling into the trench behind her. But one pole shifted, and with a grating noise, the stone beneath them began to move, sliding aside. Everyone leaped to safety, and watched at it revealed another stairway down into the depths. "What the heck," Rupert muttered.

Most of the room was a large, brackish pool. But out on a rock in the center was another small chest, remarkably like the first one. They gathered at the edge of the pool, and one of the skeletons stepped into it, dropping swiftly to the bottom. They followed its slow progress for a few feet, then something slammed into the skeleton, and the magical fires went out.

Almost in perfect unison, everyone stepped back from the edge of the pool. Dogmeat hid behind Ron Bars and whined. "Ok, something is down there, and I'm not swimming across to get that chest until I know what it is," Erris said.

As if to answer her, a giant, reptilian head lifted out of the water, gazing at them for a bare moment before dropping back beneath the surface again. The ripples slowly spread out, and the pool returned to stillness. The heroes waited, ready for a clear shot if the beast should appear again. Then, with a giant splash, a dozen tentacles leaped out of the water, lunging at the heroes.

The tentacles slapped at them from all angles, and right away knocked several of the heroes sprawling. Garou managed to bite off the end of one tentacle, but another one wrapped around the werewolf, hurling him across the room to land with a sickening crunch. Ron Bars swiped desperately with his axes, turning around in circles to keep the tentacles away from him.

Then the tentacles retreated, just as suddenly, back into the water. A half dozen heads popped up, spitting poisonous mucus at them. This time, the heroes attacked better. An arrow vanished up to the feathers in one eye, and twin lightning bolts cast another down, smoking.

The heads vanished under the water, and they rushed around the edge of the pool to where Garou had fallen. His arm was bent back, slivers of bone poking through the skin. "Oh no, his arm is broken," Rupert said. "Hold him down, we need to set it, now, or it'll get worse.

With the three women watching the water's surface, they held Garou down. His arm went back into place with a grating noise, and a hoarse scream before he fell mercifully unconscious. Erris called out as a dark shape went past them under the surface. Oksana muttered, and fell back. "Cover me, I've got an idea."

Tharos stepped up to watch the water, wand at the ready, while the other two guarded the unconscious Garou. In a few minutes, Oksana crawled up to the surface of the water, and dropped in a dozen lightning sentries, all tied together. They stared into the water for a moment, as the traps sunk to the bottom.

With an incredible boom, the whole surface of the underground lake jumped about three feet, showering all of them with the stale water. "What the hell did you do?" Jezebel asked, extending her magelight over the surface. Everything was still, the tentacle beasts sinking to the bottom of the pool.

She grinned. "Put all my firebombs in the middle, tied all the lightning sentries to fire towards the center, and dropped it in. As soon as they tried to shoot those monsters, all of them blew up. So all that magical energy had to go somewhere, and voila - mega firebomb." She crossed her arms, looking smug.

Tharos laughed and kissed her. "Brilliant idea," he said. "Now we just have to get whatever is in the chest." Erris grumbled, but after another few minutes of watching the pool, she stripped off her armor, carefully jumping into the water and swimming out to the small platform in the middle.

She opened it without climbing up, and pulled out something, and swam back swiftly, climbing out and shivering. "That water is freezing. Anyway, here's his tongue." She handed the slimy thing to Rupert, who took it with two fingers. "Let's get poor Garou back to the docks, and see if Ormus can do something about his arm."

In grim silence, Ron Bars and Erris picked him up, carrying him through the portal back to town.

Jelani cast a last nervous glance back at the pool before he left, but all was still.

In town, they rushed Garou around the docks to where Ormus stood. In surprise, the citizens of Kurast started to gather around. "Ormus, you're a healer, aren't you? We need to do something to fix Garou's arm."

Ormus slowly bent over, examining the unconscious druid carefully. "I believe there is something I can do. Follow me," he said, and began walking up the steps of the stone temple behind him. Slightly confused, they followed, doing their best to protect the shattered arm.

Once atop the temple, Ormus stepped into a carved stone circle, and indicated with his staff where they should lay him down. As gently as possible, they set Garou down, Jezebel cushioning his head. Then Ormus tapped the gold pin he wore. "Mr. Scott, beam us directly to sick bay." In a sudden swirl of light, Garou, Jezebel, and Rupert vanished with Ormus.

Erris rushed forward again, examining the stone before stomping on it. "Damn it, what is that freak doing now?" Ron Bars patted her shoulder consolingly, if a little clumsily. They sat down on the edge of the flat roof to wait.

Inside the temple, Rupert and Jezebel looked around in great surprise. They had appeared in a fancifully decorated room, with smooth metal and fine cloth everywhere. A middle aged man walked over and knelt down to take a look at Garou, waving a small metallic device in his hand. "Damn, that's a bad break."

He brought over a stretcher, and helped them move Garou onto it, transferring him to one of the beds. As Jezebel and Rupert watched in silence, metal shields rose up from the sides of the bed to encase him, and the doctor placed a metal cylinder against the side of his neck. "Don't worry, he'll be fine in about half an hour. How's everything going out there, Jim?"

Rupert scowled at him. "My name isn't Jim. Are you going to start calling me captain like he does?" he asked, pointing across the room at Ormus.

"Doctor McCoy, I believe that perhaps we have another mirror situation on our hands," Ormus said in his flat, toneless voice. "Which begs the question of where the real captain has disappeared to."

"Damnit, Spock, I'm a doctor, not a scanning system!" he shot back. "What the heck are we supposed to do?"

"At the moment, wait. This double and his companions have so far been successful in limiting the incursions of the hostile native lifeforms. If they can achieve their goal of defeating the being that controls them, it will make our search simpler."

As Ormus and McCoy argued, Jezebel and Rupert exchanged very confused glances. "Any idea what they're talking about?" she asked.

He shook his head sadly. "Sounds like some drunkard's new language to me," he replied. "I don't have any brothers, so I don't know what they mean by a double, either."

Jezebel did not reply, looking down at the healing Garou. In silence, she brushed a lock of hair away from his face. Rupert said nothing, merely smiled.

A half hour later, McCoy came back, muttering darkly about "green-blooded aliens" and "technobabble," but he pressed some buttons on the bed, and Garou awoke. In great surprise, he looked around. "Where the heck am I?" he asked, staring at the metallic walls rather worriedly.

"Ormus brought you here to fix your broken arm," Jezebel replied, somewhat cheerily. "It took a while, but this doctor worked his magic just fine!"

McCoy groaned from across the room. "Clarke's Law, never fails. Just don't go out there wearing a red shirt!" he half-shouted, as he left sick bay. In considerably more confusion, they followed Ormus silently through several corridors, to be teleported back to the top of the temple.

Back at the top, they rejoined their friends quite happily, and prepared to head back into the sewers and the trek towards Travincal.

Before they could actually reach the portal though, Alkor came across the docks towards them. "My friends! I am hoping you could be helping me with a tiny small problem," he said cheerfully. "Somewhere in Kurast there is a most wonderful tome, that has the recipe for the ultimate slurpee! I am hoping that perhaps you could be finding this for me?"

Rupert thought a moment and shrugged. "Do you know where it is?"

He grinned and nodded. "Yes, I am knowing! There are several old temples, much forgotten, and no doubt have demons living in them now. They are in the Bazaar, and the Causeway. Inside one of these magnificent old temples you will be finding the tome."

He waved cheerfully as the group trooped back through the portal. As soon as they were out of sight, Jelani burst out, "Forget the tome, it's not worth the trouble."

Erris raised an eyebrow at him imperiously. "And why not?"

He snorted. "Going back into the Bazaar is a mistake. There's at least a half dozen of those temples that haven't been buried under the jungle yet. And all of them are packed with demons." With some frustration, he shot an ice bolt into the murky water.

Oksana pushed him towards the stairs back up. "Let's not find out if those monsters survived, alright?" With suddenly worried looks, they dashed up the stairs, and peered about in the darkness. "We should go look for this tome. Killing demons is what we're here for."

Debating it back and forth, they progressed through the sewers, reaching another set of stairs. Jelani read the symbols carved into the stone. "This one goes back up to the Bazaar as well. Are you sure about this?"

Simultaneously, they all said yes and Jelani sighed. They creeped up the stairs, peering out into the noon-day fog. They could hear the mutterings of madmen, echoing through the buildings from somewhere far away. Then suddenly, Munin let out a frightened squawk and fled back down into the sewers.

Ron Bars looked up just in time to see the demonic vulture diving at him. The searching claws barely missed him as he ducked, and the others scattered. It let out a screech of rage, echoed throughout the Bazaar. "Now we've done it!" Jelani shouted, firing numerous ice bolts into the air.

Yet somehow the agile bird dodged all the missiles aimed at it, and others of its kind joined it in the air, swooping in and out of the fog. They hunkered down, still firing spells and arrows at the birds. With a shattering crunch, one of them snatched a skeleton, flinging the minion into a tree, bones flying everywhere.

With the fog so thick, they had no idea of how many birds were actually attacking. Yet everyone swiped as they passed, even Dogmeat tried to leap up and bite one. But the next pass knocked Oksana sprawling, bloody furrows across her shoulder.

Then, suddenly, the birds swooped away. Looking about warily, they all waited for the next attack. Out of the fog shuffled a few humans, their eyes bright with malice and hatred. "Those are the corrupted priests," Jelani called out in warning. Even as he said it, one of them raised a wand and prepared to attack.

But against these opponents, the heroes had no trouble. In a bare second, axe, arrow, spell, and claws had cut their number in half. And while one discharged a lightning bolt, knocking Erris to the ground with sparks flying from her armor, they did not last long.

In the sudden silence, they crouched, waiting for the birds to return. Ron Bars motioned to all the others, a finger pressed against his lips. He closed his eyes in the silence, listening to their echoing shrieks. Then, as the first one dived, he threw his axe.

It spun through the air to land, bloodied, at Erris' feet. The headless body of the bird crashed into a wall a few yards away. Their shrieks now turned to fear, the birds vanished again into the fog. As he collected his axe, Erris smiled at him. "Nice shot."

"Ron Bars great warrior of Shadow Wolf tribe!" he boomed out. Jelani tried to shush him, as they made their way hurriedly through the streets. Before long, he stopped them at a set of large steps. "At the top is the way into the temple. I have no idea if this is where the tome is, but since you're so determined, have at it." With some reluctance, he followed them up the stairs.

In silence, they descended into the temple.

Before Ron Bars had even gotten off the stairs, a group of mad women charged at him, waving spears or even just sharpened poles. The heroes killed them easily, but with much grimmer looks on their faces. With sadness in her eyes, Jezebel asked Garou, "Were we so less concerned when we fought the rogues corrupted by Andarial?"

He grimaced, and pulled a splinter out of one paw. "There is a slight difference. Those Sisters chose to betray their companions. These citizens had no choice in joining Mephisto's ranks." She nodded thoughtfully as they fought their way through another doorway.

Demons and humans driven mad fought side by side, but the heroes pushed their way forward into the main room of the temple regardless. The altar had been despoiled, a rotting human body laying atop it, the ribs broken outward. Near the altar stood a small pedestal, guarded by another group of women.

After another short, bloody fight, the victorious group moved forward. As Rupert whispered a prayer over the poor sacrifice victim, Tharos stepped up to the pedestal. "Well, it's got some kind of book." He blew dust off the cover, rising in a thick heavy cloud. "I can't fully read the name though, there are bloodstains on the cover."

Oksana carefully opened the book, and read the inscription on the first page. "To Lam Esen, from your eternal love, Betty Crocker." They all looked at the book in some confusion for a moment. "Anyone know who either of these people are?"

Shaking his head, Tharos flipped through the large tome carefully. In surprise, he stopped, pointing at an image in the book. "Those look like those drinks Alkor gave us! This must be the tome he was looking for."

Jelani snorted in laughter. "How about that, first one we try. Well, put it away. We should go back through the sewers, it'll get us closer to the causeway."

Erris raised an eyebrow. "The causeway?"

He sighed. "Yeah. A really big, old stone bridge. It's almost underwater at this point, but it's the only way into Travincal. The capital was founded on this tiny island in the middle of a lake, and they only built one bridge."

Moving as quietly as they could, they left the temple and returned to the dark and quiet of the sewers, slowly moving east toward Travincal.

After an incredibly long distance through the sewers, Jelani led them up another stairway. In the twilight fog, they crouched in the pit there, as Garou crept up the stairs to look around. With a quick twitch of fingers, he waved them up, and they silently moved across the open avenue into the shadow of a building.

Jelani looked around for a moment to get his bearings, then led them through the streets. In the growing darkness, they slipped past humans and demons alike, leaving most of them unaware of their passing. But every so often, Oksana would creep to the front of the group, to slay someone who barred their progress. By the time the sun had vanished, they were at the base of the causeway.

Rupert tried to peer out along the length of the enormous stone bridge to the capitol. Out of the darkness rose a giant shape, an enormous ape-like demon, and he held still as it stood there at the top of the steps. After sniffing the air for a moment, it vanished back onto the bridge. "What are those?" he whispered.

Jelani scowled. "Temple guards, some native ape. The corrupt Council members did it." Moving quietly as possible, they slunk up the steps. "If we can get past them without fighting, it might help."

Erris rolled her eyes in irritation, and from up ahead they could hear a group of the apes arguing wordlessly over something. In the dark and fog, they had to crawl forward along one edge of the bridge. After what seemed like an eternity, they reached the halfway point.

To either side swept away stone platforms, the other temples that Jelani had spoken of. As the heroes crept off to one of them, Oksana stayed at the back. With a wink, she disappeared back onto the bridge, even as Rupert and Tharos tried to motion her back. From the other platform, they could hear the guttural shouts of the apes, and hunkered down in the darkness to wait.

After almost a half hour, Oksana came creeping back to the top of the stairs. With the edge of her cestus, she pried loose a stone, and tossed it back onto the bridge with a loud clatter. With shouts and screams of anger, the apes rushed from their spots out onto the bridge towards Kurast. As the last one passed her, Oksana waited a moment, then lobbed two firebombs into the air after them.

Two giant explosions came booming out from the bridge, shaking the whole area. Birds flew from the trees in terror, fleeing deeper into the jungle, and with a great splash, a portion of the bridge collapsed into the water. Tharos stared into the fog. "What did you do?"

"I made two lines of firebombs across the bridge. Once they would have been close, or past it, I made sure they all went off. Now, none of those monsters can follow us into Travincal." She beamed at her idea.

Jelani stared into the fog as well, but in the opposite direction. "Yes, and now all the madmen left in Travincal know we're coming, and we have no way to retreat."

Jezebel chuckled and clapped him on the back, accidentally nailing Rupert in the knee with her staff at the same time. "Don't worry so much. We haven't needed to retreat yet!"

But from out of the darkness of Travincal, they could hear the ravings of the maddened citizens that still dwelt there, enraged from the nighttime disturbance.


	9. The Council, and Mephisto

They camped on the edge of one platform, keeping watches through the night as they tried to sleep. But in the warm jungle night, the mosquitoes were out in hordes vaster than any demons. Tossing and turning, waking to slap at the biting bugs, they greeted the morning sun tired and haggard.

Rupert gnawed on a piece of cold sausage. "So, where is the temple and the Council members? Don't we have to get something from them?" As everyone gathered around in a circle, he broke off a piece to offer Jelani for breakfast.

The mage muttered a thanks as he chewed. "The temple is almost a straight line from the causeway. But we have to go through most of the city to get there. Bad tactics." With a greasy finger, he drew a square on the stones. "The bridge ends here, and the temple is back here. We should go around the edge of the city," and he traced the border of the square again, "first, so the madmen can't flank us. Then go at the temple."

Rupert furrowed his brow. "A frontal assault? Isn't that usually a bad idea?"

Jelani snorted again. "No choice. Only entrance to the temple is a little door in the front. Normally, ceremonies were held in the open square in front of it. No one went into the temple except the priests and the Council." He rose, wiping greasy fingers on his tunic. The others followed his lead, marching up the bridge towards Travincal.

As they reached the edge of the city, a group of men, armed with irregular weapons, charged down the bridge at them. With great reluctance, they were all killed, but the heroes continued anyway. They traveled the edge of the city, fighting on the raised walkways that defined the edge of the island. In a surprisingly short time, they were back at the bridge.

Straight through the city they went, to stand in front of the temple. On the steps and the balconies were the members of the council, their bodies twisted by Mephisto into a mockery of the human form. One of them raised a hand, magically covered in ice, and shouted in a demonic language.

The monsters swarmed down the steps, only to meet withering magical attacks. Inferno traps crisscrossed the path to the heroes, while lightning bolts and arrows came burrowing in, striking numerous enemies at once. Those fortunate enough to survive that were then met with vicious claws and deadly axe.

But at the end, three Council members stood there on the steps, looking at the heroes and their dead brethren. Another one, with red-tinged hands, made a magical gesture. Out of the ground rose three fiery heads, and began spitting firebolts at the heroes. As they scattered, the leaders of the Council came down to meet them in battle.

Ron Bars and Erris were faced off against the one with the frost-covered hand. He attacked Erris first, and though she tried to dodge, his hand clipped her ponytail. Instantly it froze, the ice covering half her body as she tried to move away. His next attack knocked her to the ground, and he prepared to finish her off.

But as he raised his hand, Ron Bars threw an axe, almost taking his arm clean off. The demon roared in pain, leaping over the fallen amazon, but Ron Bars swung the other axe with both hands, cleaving him easily in half. The body exploded in a flurry of magical snow and ice, and the barbarian fought quickly to clear his eyes.

Tharos, Oksana, and Jelani were cornered by the third Council member, this one with a hand curled up, withered and diseased. As the demon pressed forward, Tharos animated a skeleton. "Stay away from his hand, I think it's cursed!" Jelani muttered something darkly, throwing an icebolt over Oksana's head. But it missed, shattering harmlessly against the side of the temple.

The assassin dodged the demon's attacks, striking out with her cestus whenever he presented her an opening. Before long, his arms were covered in wicked slashes. But the three heroes had been backed into a corner, and the skeleton was trading shots with the hydra.

Tharos and Jelani both readied spells at the same moment. "Duck!" they cried, and Oksana dropped to the stone, the withered hand narrowly missing her. But the ice bolt hit the demon in the face, and the bone spear impaled him, driving the council member backward as his intestines spilled out.

Garou, Rupert, and Jezebel had been cornered by the Council member with the red hands. With a screech of rage, he threw himself forward upon them. He effortlessly blocked Garou's attack, punching back and driving the druid to his knees. Rupert attacked from the other side, but after two solid hits, the demon dealt a backhand that tossed Rupert backwards like a fallen leaf.

He closed on Jezebel, and as he started to swing at her, she brought her staff up crushingly between his legs. The demon shrieked in pain, doubling over, and Garou lurched forward, biting down hard on his knee. Dogmeat yelped, harrying him from the other side.

As the demon stumbled backwards, he shrieked again and clutched Garou's bite. The flesh began to turn green and poisonous, and Rupert struck him again from behind. They all watched as the council member writhed in agony from the poison, until Dogmeat lunged forward and ripped out his throat. Somewhat nervously, Jezebel patted his head. "Good dog," she said, and he barked happily.

They gathered in front of the temple, and walked up the steps. Inside, Munin perched on a glowing, red orb in one corner of the temple. It positively radiated malice and hatred, and they quickly turned away from it.

Rupert noticed the flail hung on the wall first. He carefully picked it up from the hooks, and nodded. "I think this is the weapon we need." With a last nervous glance at the orb, Jezebel cast a portal, and they returned to town.

Cain quickly took the flail and the tongue, combining them in the box. After a moment of fiddling with it, he drew out the new weapon. Each ball of the flail had become one of the organs they had retrieved, and it seemed to move on its own. Looking slightly disgusted, Rupert took the flail. "I hope this thing doesn't start humping my leg," he muttered.

Inside Alkor's shop, the apothecary seemed ready to burst his skin with happiness. "The tome! I am impressed at you foreign heroes. You have done the impossible!" Flipping open the book, he made them wait while he mixed up another slurpee for the group, passing around the bright green liquid.

After downing their rewards, the heroes left his shack with friendly waves, and gathered in front of the portal again. Ormus approached, moving with his slow, deliberate approach. "You are on your way to destroy the compelling orb, correct?" he asked, and they nodded. "It will take some time to restore the people to normal. But given a few days, the jungle will have started to recede again, and the citizens will again have their sanity. Good luck to you."

They stepped back into the temple, and Rupert walked over to the Compelling Orb. The flail started to writhe in his hand, and he brought it up against the orb. The liver started to swing through the air, cleansing it and removing the aura of hatred that permeated the temple. The other two parts started banging and scouring away at the orb, until it shattered apart, falling into a pile of glassy dust on the floor of the temple.

With the orb destroyed, the flail fell still, and after a moment, fell apart as well. The magically preserved flesh rotted away almost instantly, and the flail dissolved into rust and splinters of wood. After a moment, a rumble came from the back of the temple, and the stone sunk down, forming a stairwell into darkness.

Tharos stood at the top, looking down with his skeletons. "I'm pretty sure this is the way to Mephisto's lair." The others nodded, and with skeletons leading the way, they traveled down into the Durance of Hate.

The air down there was stale, and stank of sulfurous fumes. Voices echoed through the halls, and Erris muttered something about being locked in an asylum. Darkness practically ate away at the borders of their torchlight.

Bodies lay piled around, or slumped up against walls. Many of them had been gutted, sacrifice victims tossed aside carelessly. And the halls were layered with monsters, many of them fire-throwing Ghoul Lords and exploding Fetish skeletons. They wandered the first level, fighting almost blindly through the darkness. Finally, they found another set of stairs leading down.

The room at the bottom of the stairs was empty, but for more corpses. As they started through the room, Jezebel suddenly whimpered and backed away. Everyone came to a halt, looking around, weapons at the ready. "What's wrong?" Garou asked, sniffing the air with his heightened lycanthrope senses.

Wordlessly, she pointed her staff at one of the piles of bodies. These ones had had their throats slit, skins left pale from the absence of blood. Garou slowly moved closer to the pile, and after a moment, he suddenly backed away as well. Tharos peered at the bodies in horror. "I didn't know that could be done," he whispered, holding a hand to his mouth as though sick.

"What is it?" Rupert asked, backing away from the bodies as well.

"Do you hear the voices?" Tharos replied, waving his wand vaguely into the air. When Rupert nodded, he pointed it at the bodies. "Mephisto bound their souls into their bodies. It's their voices we're hearing. They've been slowly going mad, trapped inside their slowly rotting corpses." He gulped down nausea. "It's a form of necromancy I didn't think was possible."

As though listening, the voices in the room intensified, some of them practically shouting in their thin, whispery tones. So distracted by the voices, they almost didn't notice the swarm of Fetish skeletons come swarming into the room. And as they began to fight, from another doorway came ogres, large clubs held ready.

In the front of the group, Jelani was firing ice bolts at the skeletons, and did not notice the ogres' entrance. One of them hefted a club, knocking the mage across the room. Jelani screamed as he flew through the air, landing onto a Fetish skeleton. The undead exploded, ripping his body to pieces.

In shock, the heroes were almost killed that moment. Only a frantic shot from Erris halted the lead ogre, and they were forced to retreat back to the stairs. After a long fight was the room finally clear, and they slowly gathered around Jelani's corpse. Rupert quietly said a prayer for his soul, and silently the heroes continued their search for Mephisto.

They stormed through the maze of rooms and corridors, smashing apart any monster foolish enough to get in their way. Their faces were set in grimaces of hatred and rage, and everyone was happy to charge into battle, to try and vent their anger against Mephisto's minions.

Diablo leaned back from the large bowl where the divination spell was in effect. "You do not disappoint me, brother," he rumbled. "You have managed to exert your power over even Tyrael's chosen warriors."

Mephisto laughed, a harsh grating noise. "Truly these silly fools are nothing for me to worry about. It is surprising they were able to overcome Andarial and Duriel, but they have not faced a true Prime Evil in full command of his powers!" He raised a clawed hand, and throughout his chamber, monsters howled.

Baal nodded, tossing the blood-filled bowl aside. "We have much work to do before we can rid this world of these pesky humans. Diablo and I are on our way to Hell. Please make sure every one of these six heroes is dealt with properly, hmm?"

Mephisto smiled, serrated teeth glinting in the red, smoky light. "Have no worries, my brother. It shall be done."

Baal and Diablo hefted their demonic bulk from the stone floor, and moved forward across the bridge of bones to the portal. Baal cast a last look back at his brother, before vanishing into Hell.

One floor above, as the others continued their hate-filled rampage, Oksana drew her cloak of shadows even closer around her. The mental training of the assassins was allowing her to avoid Mephisto's corrupting spells, but only barely. She halted again, to focus her thoughts, and when she looked up, all of her companions had vanished.

Oksana muttered a silent prayer, and continued wandering the floor, looking for the way to Mephisto.

The heroes had slowly separated completely, and Erris was the first to find the stairway down. She fairly flew down the stairs, jumping the last few to land at the bottom. A hail of arrows flew away, striking down the last of the Council members. As she strode forward into Mephisto's main lair, the demon grabbed her from above.

Though she struggled, Erris could not break the demon's powerful grip. Contemptuously, he snapped her bow in half, and hurled her across the room. With a sickening thud, she hit the wall, falling to the ground unconscious.

Moving silently across the ceiling like a spider, Mephisto picked her up again, and locked her into a set of manacles on the wall. Grinning with victory, he turned back towards the stairs to await the next warrior.

Oksana finally found Tharos and the stairs at the same time. Silently she followed the necromancer and his skeletons down into the heart of Mephisto's lair. She watched helplessly as Mephisto battered the skeletons apart, and threw Tharos into a pillar. As the demon picked him up, she crept silently to the edge of the main room.

She could see her friends chained there to the opposite wall. Chewing her lip in anticipation, she started around the side of the room. Slowly she crept up on another leader of the Council, this one with a missing hand, and slit his throat, lowering the body to the ground. Oksana gathered the shadows closer around herself, and continued.

There on the bridge of bones, Mephisto talked quietly with Griswold. Keeping an eye on them, the assassin scaled the wall, picking her way up to the ceiling, and then across the rough stone. When she hung there above Mephisto, she thought another prayer, and dropped from the ceiling.

She landed heavily on the demon's back, and both he and Griswold roared in anger. Without hesitating, she grabbed Mephisto's forehead with one hand, and yanked the edge of her cestus across his neck. Her anger was so great that it nearly decapitated the Prime Evil, and he fell heavily to the ground.

Griswold lurched forward, raising his hammer in the air. Peering about in the dark and the gloom, he moaned in apprehension. Suddenly, Oksana cast aside her cloak of shadows, raising her bloody cestus in her hand as she pointed to the portal behind Griswold. "Run," she said, and the blacksmith did not argue.

Oksana watched him slowly back away into the portal to Hell, not moving until he had vanished. Running to her companions, she swiftly picked the locks on their manacles, and forced a healing potion down each of their throats. She kept a watch as they recovered from their wounds and the magical hatred.

Garou looked at the corpse of Mephisto, the demonic form slowly melting back into the body of the Zakarum priest. "You did that?" he asked quietly, pointing at the almost decapitated head.

Oksana shrugged. "Yeah. I managed to avoid his hatred up until about the time I landed on his back." Garou shook his head, amazed, and then stared at the flame-colored portal. "I think that leads into Hell. Diablo and Baal were already gone, but Griswold went back into the portal when I killed Mephisto."

Rupert stepped over to the body, and carefully pried loose the Soulstone that held the essence of the demon. Looking at the bright blue stone, he chuckled. "I suppose we should ask Cain what to do with this before we go jumping into Hell."

Carefully, they retrieved their equipment, much of it broken, and stepped through a town portal. Rupert cast one last look at the dead body, and shivered. "He almost looks like me," he muttered.

Stepping onto the docks, everyone around them slowed at the serious faces they wore. Cain walked up slowly, peering at them in turn. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Holding up the Soulstone, Rupert tried to explain. "Jelani died in Mephisto's lair, and all of us fell under his influence. We were so consumed with hatred that we stopped thinking about what we were doing, and just rampaged around killing demons." Hanging his head in shame, Rupert walked off onto the docks.

Cain looked at the others. "How did you manage to defeat Mephisto, then?" He stared at the Soulstone for a moment, almost hypnotized, before shivering and putting it into a pocket. "And what about Diablo and Baal?"

Tharos put an arm around Oksana. "She used her assassin training to avoid the spell. Mephisto captured the rest of us, but she snuck up on the demon and cut his head off. Then chased Griswold through the portal and back to Hell."

His eyebrows shot up alarmingly. "Hell? There's a portal to Hell down there? Take me to it right away!"

Erris chuckled. "I'm sure there's a better way to get to Hell if you're in a hurry."

"You stupid girl!" he shouted, whirling on her. "If Diablo and Baal have reached Hell, it means they're planning to pour all of the hordes of Hell into the mortal world. We have to get there and stop them!"

Garou patted Dogmeat on the head. "Fetch, Dogmeat!" With a bark, he ran off down the docks. Somewhere near Hratli's forge, they heard a cry of surprise, and soon Dogmeat came running back up, chasing Rupert. "Into the portal, we're bound for Hell!"

Ron Bars picked him up by the back of the shirt, stopping the druid's charge. "Ron Bars need axe," he boomed, almost sounded offended, as he held up the broken axe handle. Everyone hurried across the docks to Hratli's forge, and fumed impatiently as he repaired their weapons and armor. Then back to the portal, Dogmeat leading the way and barking happily.


	10. Act 4: Angels and Hellforges

**Act Four**

They hurried through, stepping back into the Durance and onto the bridge of bones. Cain studied the flame-wreathed portal for a moment, then started chanting. After a few moments, the portal flared dramatically. They regrouped, and stepped into the portal.

They emerged on a blasted landscape. The air stank of poison and smoke, and the land around them was gray and dead. Demons turned, howling in fury as they spotted the mortals, flames shooting from their mouths. Cain pointed into the distance. "There! Run for that staircase! It leads to the sanctuary!"

They ran, fighting every step of the way while trying to protect Cain from the demons. After a seeming eternity, they reached the bottom of the stairs, and Tyrael suddenly appeared before them. Silently, he strode through their ranks, pushing them out of the way to confront the mass of demons.

Raising his hands, the angel summoned light, so pure and blinding that the mortals were all forced to look away. When the light suddenly vanished again, they blinked the spots from their eyes to view several small piles of ash, slowly being dispersed by the smoke scented winds that blew past.

After another moment of staring off into the distance, Tyrael turned and started up the staircase. After a few steps, he paused and looked over his shoulder. "Welcome to Hell," he spoke quietly, and strode up into the sanctuary.

They followed Tyrael up the stairs, stepping onto a wide platform. The air up here smelled clean, and a pair of armored mercenaries worked on either side, tending to equipment and books. Cain hobbled swiftly after the angel, asking him questions in some lost Horadric tongue.

In confusion, and tired from the fight for the stairs, the heroes sat down on the platform and the stairs. After several minutes of waiting, Rupert got up in disgust, striding over to Cain. "Well? What should we do now?"

Tyrael slowly moved forward as the other heroes gathered around behind Rupert. "The first task you should work for is a former angel named Izual. He was captured during an assault on the Hellforge, and the Prime Evils have bound his soul into a demonic body."

The angle waved his hands in the air, conjuring up an illusion of the demonic body. Sharp, blue-tinted scales stuck out everywhere. "If you destroy the body that holds his soul, Izual's soul will be free. We believe he is somewhere on the Plains of Despair."

Ignoring their questions, Tyrael turned away. Furious, Erris turned away to stare out at the smoky ruins of Hell. "Well, let's get down there and start looking around. Might as well start looking for Diablo somewhere around here!"

Furious, she started down the stairs, back into Hell, firing down the stairs at a few straggler demons.

They wandered through the landscape of Hell for hours, fighting groups of demons. Tortured souls were all around them, tied to poles and driven mad with terror, attacking anything that came near. But the broken ground, and the monotonous grayness that enveloped everything in this area of Hell confused them, and they ended up back at the stairs up to the sanctuary.

Erris threw down her bow, screaming in frustration. "How are we supposed to find anything out there? Let alone a giant demon or Diablo?" She sat down heavily on the stairs, burying her face in her hands. Ron Bars patted her on the shoulder for comfort.

Garou looked at Munin, perched on a broken outcrop of stone. "Well, feather duster? See any stairs down while we were wandering around after demons?" The bird cawed, sounding rather smug, and Garou smacked his forehead with one hand. "Stairs down, birdbrain, not the ones up to the sanctuary."

Munin cawed again, and flew around behind the stairs. Curious, Jezebel followed, and stared out at the empty void behind the stairs. Slowly, the others gathered around behind her, and stared out as well.

On the other side of the stairs, on the bottom side of the sanctuary, was a vast open plain of gray. Demons wandered the landscape, occasionally lit by gouts of flame leaping from the rocks. Rupert held on to the side of the stairway carefully, leaning over to tap on the underside. "Brilliant. So how the heck are we supposed to get over there?"

Tharos directed a skeleton with his wand to the base of the stairs, and holding on to the edge, it jumped off, swinging around to crash onto the underside of the stairs. Picking itself up, the skeleton clattered up/down the stairs towards the new plain. Shaking his head, the necromancer followed his minion, landing with more grace. "It's weird, but it does seem like the right way to go."

Garou and Ron Bars carefully handed over Dogmeat, and one by one, the others followed him, and headed for the Plains of Despair.

They reached the "bottom" of the new staircase, trying not to look back at where they had been, just in case. A large stone archway separated the stairs from the open plain, and they moved quietly, trying to avoid being noticed by the demons. They stared across the open landscape of endless gray, hearing the maddened cries of tortured souls and the lumbering bellows of demons.

Rupert raised his scepter, almost in challenge, and stepped boldly out of the archway. As if magnetized, demons started streaming towards them, and the heroes fought their way free. Much like the first section of Hell, they fought almost endlessly, wandering aimlessly across the plains.

Then a ground shaking roar caused them to turn. Striding towards them, wielding a sword of diamond, came Izual. The demon leaped over an outcrop of rock, landing on one of the tortured souls and grinding it into the dirt.

Erris took careful aim, and fired an arrow when Izual stepped forward. But the arrow shattered on his scaly hide, and with another step the battle was joined. The demon was as skilled with spells as weapons. Blasts of cold energy radiated from him, and the lightning bolts from Jezebel and Oksana's traps seemed to have little effect.

Finally, Ron Bars got around behind the demon, and leaped upon his back. Grabbing Izual's sword arm, he braced with his legs and pulled. As the demon screamed in pain, the barbarian ripped his arm free, falling to the ground. Steaming blood poured out, lighting flames across the ground as it flowed away.

They all stepped back, watching in shock as the demonic body slowly disintegrated, falling into a pile of gray dust to match the landscape. The diamond sword turned dull and brittle, flaking away into ash as well. Finally, there before them stood the angelic soul of Izual, who slowly began to laugh evilly.

"You fools!" he cried out, "did you think this would be simple? Tell that fool Tyrael that he has been mislead the entire time! It was I who created the plan to send the Prime Evils to the mortal world, to have them placed in the soulstones. Your race is naught but a disease upon the firmament of Creation! You must be destroyed, and no cost is too great for that!"

Even as Rupert stepped forward to challenge the fallen angel, his incorporeal soul faded away into nothingness. Feeling downcast and defeated, the heroes continued their wandering through Hell. Again, they returned to the staircase, and Garou snapped his fingers. "If we had to jump onto the other side of the staircase to get here, then when we jump back, we should be right at the sanctuary!"

With a slight bit more cheer, they jumped around the staircase again, and looked in both directions. Behind them, "up" was nothing but a gray stone cliff, solid and smooth. "Down" the stairs was what appeared to be a city, laid out in gray stone. Dog-faced demons, similar to the ones at the Sister's monastery, wandered freely.

Jezebel stamped her foot angrily. "This doesn't make any sense! I'm going to try using a town portal scroll, and see where it leads us." The others waited as Ron Bars stepped through it, then returned.

"Ron Bars in sanctuary!" he boomed. They trooped back and gathered around Tyrael.

Rupert spoke up first, hanging his scepter on his belt. "What is the deal with this place, Tyrael? We wandered around for hours, only to get back at the same staircase, and follow the underside to get to the plains."

The angel was silent for a moment, then raised a hand. "Yes, I sensed your defeat of Izual, and heard his words. It pains me greatly to think that one of our most trusted servants could have betrayed the light so. But you wish to know of the nature of Hell, and I will explain as best I can.

"Imagine a corkscrew." He waved a hand, conjuring a spiral shape into the air. "Both Hell and Heaven are designed in a similar fashion. To descend, you must travel around to the left. Though the staircase you find might seem the same one, it is not." He waved a hand at their surroundings. "The magical nature of both Heaven and Hell do not lend themselves to your mortal perceptions."

Garou frowned. "So, you mean that all the time we're wandering aimlessly, we're actually traveling down to the bottom of Hell?"

Tyrael inclined his head. "Indeed. At the very bottom is the River of Flame, and the Chaos Sanctuary. There you will find Diablo."

Cain approached the group. "More importantly, along the river is the Hellforge. There, you can destroy Mephisto's soulstone forever. Once you defeat the Armorer, take his forge hammer, and shatter the soulstone on top of the Hellforge."

They considered all the information carefully, and wandered down the sanctuary towards the two other warriors there. "I think this is all a bit too complicated, if you know what I mean," Garou said. He approached the female warrior, who sat on a stool, staring at a box with a crystalline side. "Who's Jumping Jack Flash, anyway?"

Jamella jumped up, screeching in surprise. "What do you think you're doing looking over my shoulder? Damn, boy, you trying to give me a heart attack?" Her hair flew wildly as she confronted him.

Garou stepped back hurriedly, holding up his hands. "Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't realize. What do you do here, anyway?"

"I'm a merchant. I sell weapons. What do you think I'm doing here, sightseeing?" Jamella put her hands on her hips, glaring at him.

Trying to contain his laughter, Rupert dragged Garou away. "Come on, leave her alone, we need to rest before continuing into Hell."

Behind Jamella, a wooden panel slid aside, and a young woman in a nun's habit looked out. "Are they gone? Can we get back to our roulette game now?" Jamella waved her hand irritably in consent, and from behind the panel came squeals of joy.

After a few hours of sleep on the surprisingly comfortable stone floor of the sanctuary, the group stepped back through the portal onto the one-way staircase, and stared down at the stone city. Demons wandered through the darkness, and they slowly descended to the edge of the city.

As they stepped into the city, the air grew even darker around them, as though they were trying to look through a cloud of ashes. But the demons they had seen earlier were gone now, the streets empty and silent. Remembering Tyrael's words, Rupert led the party off to the left, pacing through the barren streets.

Finally, Garou stopped them at an intersection. "Something smells funny ahead." Ron Bars moved forward, his axes held ready. A skeletal warrior suddenly popped up at a window of the building, launching magical balls of ice at the barbarian. He tried desperately to get away, but more warriors appeared, firing away with elemental magics.

As the half-frozen barbarian fell, Erris screamed, "Man down! Man down!" Oksana started throwing traps through every window around them, and around one corner came a sudden swarm of the Damned. "Ambush!" she screamed again, firing off a hail of arrows at the charging demons.

They fought through the ambush, dragging Ron Bars until he recovered. With the barbarian's might, the demons were quickly routed. They backed into an empty building to stop and regroup. "Is the whole area like this?" Jezebel asked. She gestured out the window, and a fire wall sprang up to block them from the street.

Garou nodded. "That's the way it appeared from the stairs. So we have to go around until we get back to the stairs, and then we'll be down to the River." The druid paused, then suddenly glanced up. "Look out!"

From above them came a flight of the lightning enchanted bats, striking out of the sky. To their surprise, the heroes discovered a moment too late that the building lacked a roof. Oksana screamed in outrage as a bat sent electricity coursing through her hair, but it fell with a swipe of her cestus.

They fought frantically for the first few moments, but soon their attacks had killed all the bats but one. As it flew away, Ron Bars gave a war cry and charged back to the door of their building, fighting to hold out the demons again. "We've got to find a way out of here!" Tharos shouted, launching a bone spear into the ranks of the Damned.

Garou and Ron Bars waited at the door, and on the right signal, they charged out into the melee, swiping with abandon. The others followed frantically, fighting their way out of the building. Oksana strapped a lightning trap to her arm, and started to blast away at demons from point blank range.

The ranks of demons seemed endless, and the heroes left a trail of shattered bodies as they tried to fight their way through Hell and back to the staircase. But Garou tripped, and their progress stalled as he fought to recover. Suddenly, all of the Damned dropped to the ground, and a group of skeletal warriors at the edges of the group all fired at once.

Rupert dived to the ground, trying to pull the others after him. Everyone but Erris managed to duck the fusillade of magical energy, and she danced back and forth frantically for a moment. But the energy sped back out over the crowd, striking down the skeletal warriors all around them.

The demons were surprised, and the heroes wasted no time. Their charge carried them halfway through the crowd before the Damned recovered enough to keep attacking. "There's some sort of light ahead," Rupert called, and Ron Bars led the charge for it.

As they neared the stairs again, fiery light spilled up from around the edges. The Damned seemed to spill away as they reached the stairs, falling back and staring angrily at them from the edge of the light. They stared back for only a moment, then descended the stairs down to the River of Flame.

The stairs below were rough stone, and the walkway was surrounded by a river of orange flame, swirling and eddying with no discernable destination. They reached the bottom, sending a last few worried glances back to the city above them. Jezebel shrieked in fright as a skeletal figure tried to claw its way out of the river, only to fall back beneath the surface, bony fingers grasping desperately.

They spread out, and started exploring the walkways here. Giant maggots, much like those they had faced in the deserts of Aranoch, littered the place, their young attacking in almost endless waves. With them were twisted demonic women, belching up grotesque worms to assault them as well.

While these weak opponents were hardly a challenge for the heroes, the sheer numbers almost pushed them back more than once. Before long, they had reached a split in the path. Oksana pointed off to the left. "The Hellforge is that way," she said, pointing.

Rupert looked at her in doubt. "How can you be so sure?" In response, she just stared at the surface of the river for several seconds, until another skeleton broke the surface. This one held a crude sign in its hands, with arrows pointing for the Hellforge and the Chaos Sanctuary. In triumph, Oksana turned and led the party towards the Hellforge.

Before they could see the forge, they heard the sounds of hammering coming from up ahead. Soon, the lumps of stone no longer blocked their view, and they could see the hulking figure there, on the platform, pounding away with the hammer.

Bugs and demons came swarming up from somewhere behind the forge, and Griswold turned, raising the hammer ominously. "Oh crap, not again!" Erris cried, impaling three bugs together. The heroes fought quickly and savagely to clear the field of common monsters.

But Griswold ignored his lesser allies, squishing worms underfoot as he charged at the heroes, twirling the hammer as though weightless. A quick flurry of blows knocked aside Garou and Ron Bars, and his next step left him looming over Erris. The hammer knocked the bow from her hands, and he grinned savagely as he raised it again.

In anger and desperation, Erris screamed, and slapped Griswold. Everyone paused for a moment, as Griswold slowly lowered the hammer. Then suddenly, he dropped the hammer, tears pouring from his eyes. They all watched, stunned, as Griswold fled across the pathways bawling.

Jezebel snorted. "That's it? That's all it took to scare him off, was a little slap?" Garou shook his head in astonishment, lupine teeth glinting in the orange light.

With both hands, Rupert heaved, picking up the heavy forge hammer. He held it for a moment, then staggered towards Ron Bars. "Help!" he squeaked, then tipped over from the weight of the massive thing.

The barbarian picked up the hammer, and twirled it effortlessly. "Hammer light," he boomed, scoffing at Rupert as he hauled the paladin to his feet. With a mighty leap, Ron Bars jumped up in front of the smoking anvil. "Where stone?" he asked?

Jezebel snapped her fingers. "Cain still has it. I'll be right back." She quickly read off a portal scroll, and dashed through before the others could stop her. A minute later she reappeared, the portal winking shut. "Ok, here's the - eek!" In her haste, Jezebel crashed right into Garou, sending them tumbling to the ground, and Mephisto's soulstone flying through the air.

Ron Bars hefted the hammer, looking at the stone as it flew, and swung. The stone shattered in midair, the bright fragments skimming across the fiery river. Smugly, he dropped the forge hammer onto the anvil, leaving a massive dent.

Jezebel had fallen on top of Garou, and suddenly smiled at him. "Wow," she purred, "being a werewolf certainly does come with some advantages, doesn't it?"

The cross-eyed werewolf shook his muzzle from side to side slowly. In a high-pitched voice, he said, "That's your staff." With Oksana giggling madly, Jezebel managed to get to her feet, beet red, and removed her staff from between Garou's legs.

Rupert looked at everyone impatiently. "All right, let's get this over with. Diablo must be close by, in his lair, and I don't want to stay down here any longer than necessary." Feeling triumphant (and bruised) they turned around, and started walking towards the Chaos Sanctuary.

Inside the Sanctuary, Diablo and Baal watched through a scrying pool as the heroes chased away Griswold and shattered the magical soulstone. Diablo roared in rage, shaking the walls of the oddly cross-shaped cathedral. Baal paced for a moment, then turned. "Patience, brother. All is not lost."

Diablo turned with a snarl, but the smug look on Baal's face gave him a moment of pause. "Your campaign on Mount Arreat continues then."

He laughed. "Of course it does. The only remaining elder of Harrogath has been corrupted. He will be bringing me a relic soon, that will allow me into the chambers of the Worldstone. Once it is corrupted, humanity is doomed. And, brother," he moved forward with a sudden angry look, "your job is to delay them. If you can kill them, fine. If not, it does not matter. They cannot truly kill you here."

Diablo matched the anger and fury. "They have killed our brothers and sisters. Permanent or not, they must pay for their impertanence!"

Baal reached for both his infernal powers, and the magic that Tal Rasha had possessed. "That is not important," the eldest demon rumbled. "Delay them so that I can destroy the Worldstone, and they will be punished whether they defeat you or not."

Diablo shook with rage as Baal vanished, teleporting back to the slopes of Mount Arreat.


	11. Diablo

Soon they approached a wide platform on the river, with rows of demonic statues. Standing serenely in the middle of the statues was another angel, Hadriel. Behind him ran a maze of smaller paths, leading to the Chaos Sanctuary some distance away. Hadriel sighed as they approached.

"Took you long enough. Do you have any idea how much my feet hurt from standing here waiting for you? Next time Tyrael asks me to do a 'small favor' for him, I'm bringing a book and a chair with me." The angel then closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

"Anyway, here's the deal. Diablo is in the Sanctuary. But, you can't see him, or effect him, quite yet. There's five magical seals inside. Trigger the seals, and it'll reveal him to you. Have fun!" With that cheery rejoinder, Hadriel leaped into the air, spreading his wings and soaring away.

They watched him go, then turned back to look towards the building hiding the Lord of Terror. With a sigh, Rupert raised his scepter. "Let's get this over with," he said, and they started across the walkways.

The narrow maze helped them against the bugs, as their arrows and spells quite easily soared across the ten-foot gaps to crush the monsters. Before long, they stood at the entrance to the corrupted cathedral. Even as they stared at the building, glowing, moth-like creatures swooped down from the rafters above.

The demons attacked with magical balls of energy, swerving around to strike the heroes unerringly. But they were not so hard to defeat, as Garou proved by grabbing two from the air, smashing them together, and hurling the corpses into the fiery river.

They stepped inside, staring around for a moment. Then, from deeper inside the cathedral, came a group of skeleton warriors. Raising their swords, they charged, as their leader in the back gestured, laying a curse on the heroes. The first group was easily trampled despite the curse, their leader trading magical bolts of fire and ice with Tharos' minions.

The rest of the Sanctuary was much the same. Glowing, moth-like demons fought beside the skeletons. They reached the center, where a large set of bridges formed a pentagram. They looked around, before Rupert pointed to the left wing. After another moment of rest, they hefted their weapons again, and charged down the left branch.

Another group of moths dead, and they stood to examine the first seal. Garou chuckled. "Ah, I've seen these before. Not usually used for demonic purposes, but it's not that hard to activate." He stepped up into the metal circle, paws grasping two metal branches, laying his muzzle against the third.

Beneath his feet, the metal shifted, and runes started glowing brightly. To his surprise, magical energy also bound him to the seal. Twirling lights, like they had encountered with that Wanderer in the jungle, appeared. Everyone scattered, except Ron Bars, who stood right in the center, waiting for the demons to appear.

They were not disappointed. More of the glowing moths appeared, to be met instantly with a crash of axe, arrow, and spell. Their leader, glowing green, managed one attack before Ron Bars swung his axe together, cleaving it in half. The body exploded, showering them all with gore.

With the monsters dead, the energy on the seal dissipated, and Garou was freed. He glared at the seal. "That's not supposed to happen," he growled angrily. Rupert walked over to the second seal, and activated it the same way. This time, no magical bonds or demons appeared, and they crossed the cathedral to the opposite wing.

Again they fought their way through a crowd of demons, and Rupert again activated the seal. The trap sprung, and lights danced their way downward. This time, though, Oksana had prepared the ground ahead of time. Fire-breathing Balrogs appeared, to be cut down by a dozen lightning sentries all attacking at once.

They activated the other seal, and headed for the last one swiftly. Again prepared, the skeletal mages that appeared died quickly, Rupert's paladin aura driving them back while the others hammered them. Everyone waited quietly as Jezebel stepped off the seal, and stood there staring at the large pentagram in the middle of the Chaos Sanctuary.

After several minutes, Erris stamped her foot impatiently. "Alright, where is the bastard? We activated all the seals, just like Hadriel said!" From behind her, Tharos started to shout a warning, but a whip of red lightning came blasting through their ranks. Everyone dove out of the way, hair and armor sparking from the attack.

Behind them stood Diablo. The demon stood almost cat-like, and laughed easily. "Did you think it would be so easy as that?" He spread his hand, launching a wave a fire that crumbled Tharos' skeletons to ash.

Erris screamed in victory. "Time to die, bastard!" She launched a dozen arrows, some shattering, but others digging under the demon's scales. Ron Bars leaped, crashing into Diablo's side, and hanging on as his axes dug into flesh. As the demon opened his mouth to scream in fury, Oksana threw a firebomb into his mouth, which detonated when Jezebel's lightning bolt hit it.

The Lord of Terror staggered, his jaw blown off, but his fury no less dampened. The resulting fight ranged all across the Chaos Sanctuary. After twenty minutes of fighting, Erris pulled herself off the wall from another lightning whip attack. Looking around, she saw all her friends down, except for Tharos.

The necromancer cursed Diablo, even as the demon charged at him, trampling the necromancer into the floor. Reaching for an arrow, Erris found she had only two left. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the open. "Hey, ugly!" Not the most original insult, but Diablo turned, and glared at her.

As he started to charge, she pulled back one arrow and aimed very carefully. With a whispered prayer, she let the arrow fly. The demon started to laugh as it went cleanly under his body, then he felt the arrow strike. Screaming in pain, the demon slammed into the floor, his hands reaching back between his legs to feel the arrow, somehow shot right up his ass.

Erris smiled, pulling back her last arrow. Diablo's eyes focused again, just in time for the arrow to burrow through his eye and into his skull. He shuddered twice, then went still. The amazon stood there triumphantly for a moment, until she realized that all of her friends were laying there, on the point of death.

Her hand scrabbled at her belt, but she was out of healing potions. So was everyone else. Rupert was unconscious, so his paladin healing aura was out of service. Ron Bars lay crumpled against a wall, his head slashed open and bleeding sluggishly. She rushed over to Jezebel, grabbing up the staff.

Erris ran her hands all over the staff, trying to figure out how to open the compartment where the sorceress kept her scrolls. Finally the end popped out, and Erris sobbed in relief as she fumbled the scroll open. She read it frantically, dashing through as soon as she could fit.

She charged across the Sanctuary, skidding to a stop in front of Tyrael. "You've got to help them!"

The angel looked down at her, with almost glacial slowness, she thought. "Diablo is dead." The angel thought a moment. "But Baal has escaped."

"I don't care about that," she cried. "You've got to help the others. They're almost dead. You've got to heal them!"

Tyrael shook his head. "If I leave here, the Sanctuary will be overrun with demons."

Angrily, Erris grabbed the angel by his robes. "Didn't you hear me?" she screamed at him. "We defeated Diablo, but they'll die if you don't help them. Don't you care?" After a moment of silence, she swung her fist at Tyrael. "You're no better than Diablo, are you?"

He blocked her blow, driving her backwards with nothing but the fury in his face. "Do I care? Of course I care! I have no wish for them to die, no more than you. But I cannot leave this Sanctuary to travel further into Hell. I have no choice."

Sobbing in fury, Erris turned to run, only to crash into Jamella. The black woman pressed a set of vials into hands. "Go, girl, get out of here!" Shouting a thanks, Erris dove back through the portal.

Almost tripping over her own feet, she dropped to her knees by Rupert, forcing one of the potions down his throat. As the paladin coughed and stuttered, she leaped up again, charging from one to another, administering potions of healing. She reached Ron Bars last, skidding to a stop and lifting the potion.

As she started to tilt his head back, the barbarian stopped breathing. She stared for a moment, uncomprehending, then screamed in fury and pain. Almost mindless, she lashed out, striking the body as she screamed out her grief for all to hear. Garou and Oksana tackled her, pulling her off the body.

Then, to all their surprise, the barbarian toppled over, barely catching himself on the floor. Rupert pried the last potion from Erris' shaking hands and helped Ron Bars force it down. She broke free, wrapping her arms around him, tears rolling down her face. "Damn you, you big ape! Don't you ever scare us like that again!"

Everyone sat there, holding each other for comfort, as the barbarian coughed several times. Dogmeat barked happily, licking his face. Finally, he cracked an eye open, and smiled faintly at Erris. "No problem, cutie," he said in a normal voice.

Everyone stared at him for a moment, then Erris slapped him. "You can talk normally, and all this time you've been leading us around with this pigeon speak? What was it, some barbarian tribe custom to act like an idiot?" Her eyes shone, anger and relief warring for dominance.

Ron Bars coughed again, and shook his head. "It helps sometimes if the people I should be helping underestimate me. Like the rogues, or Lord Jehryn." He grimaced. "I just couldn't figure out a way to tell you guys after we started fighting together."

She stared at the man in her arms for a moment, then shoved him to the floor, kissing him passionately. Oksana whistled in appreciation, and Rupert turned away, blushing. After they came up for air, the paladin cleared his throat. "Alright, let's get back to Tyrael and hitch a ride back to our mortal world."

Garou stood, picking up Jezebel and returning her staff. "Don't forget, Baal is out there somewhere. And since he controls one of the greatest mages the world has ever seen …" The druid didn't need to finish the sentence.

Jezebel pulled out her last scroll, and they stepped through, weary and battered, to safety. Munin sailed through the portal right before it closed, cawing in annoyance. Behind them, the body of Diablo slowly shrunk, losing the demonic attributes and returning to the haunted, though human, face of the fighter who had battled his way through the horrors of Tristram. Now, finally, he was at peace.

They arrived back in the Sanctuary triumphant. The two warriors there congratulated them, and even Cain gave a cheer. Tyrael was silent, his face as always a mask of schooled indifference. "I have found where Baal has headed. This victory means nothing."

Erris started to get angry again, but the angel held up a hand. "Baal has headed for the peak of Mount Arreat, where the Worldstone is kept. That stone is the source of all magic in your world. If Baal reaches the stone first, and corrupts it, then all magic on your world will be controlled from Hell."

The heroes were silent, pondering his words. Ron Bars and Garou, knowing the history behind the mountain, were particularly worried. The angel gestured, and another portal opened. "I can get you safely to Harrogath. From there, you must fight you way up the mountain, to overtake Baal before he can reach the Worldstone chamber."


	12. Act 5: Siege and Prison Breaks

**Act Five**

Cain stepped through the portal first, and the others followed him. After the sulfurous fires of Hell, the snow-filled, winter air was a shock to them all. Oksana shivered, pulling out her cloak. Ron Bars smiled, looking up into the sky. Dogmeat looked up too, sneezing when a snowflake drifted into his nose.

They followed Cain to the center of the village. A large barbarian, with blond hair and a gigantic beard, came lumbering forward. "Ronnie, me boy!" He engulfed Ron Bars in a giant hug, crushing the smaller barbarian. "How've ye been, out exploring the world?"

He chuckled, pushing his way out of the hug. "Just fine, dad. How's mom? Oh, this is my father, Qual-Kehk, leader of the fighting men of Harrogath."

Qual-kehk grew serious. "It's been bad, son. Baal came through here, demanding the sacred relic, to gain entrance to the Worldstone chamber. Of course we refused, but the hordes of demons put the city under siege. Your mother has been working her poor feet off, caring for the wounded."

Ron Bars nodded, and led them through the city to the healer's building. Puttering around inside was a middle-aged woman, skinny as a rail, gray just coming into her hair. She stopped, squinting as they climbed the steps up to the door, then came hobbling forward. "Ron Bars, you crazy boy! Finally decided to come home and help out, did you?" She captured her son in a hug no less fierce.

Ron Bars grinned, turning back to the others. "This is my mother, Malah." He gave his mom a quick peck on the cheek. "Don't worry mom, Tyrael sent us here to stop Baal."

She humphed, a tear springing to her eye. "My very own boy, a hero." She then punched him in the arm. "Well, don't just stand here, get to it! The city's not getting any better, you know!"

As if to underscore her words, from the west came a flying ball of magical energy. It smashed against the wall, magical balls of lightning crawling around the outside of the wall for a moment before dissipating. "You see what I mean?" She thumped him again. "Go talk to Larzuk, the new blacksmith. He knows what's going on, and he's less busy than I am." Malah turned back to her patients, administering medicines and healing potions.

Erris looked at Ron Bars with a great deal of surprise. "Those are your parents?"

He looked back at her, unsure. "Yes, why?"

She shook her head. "It is true. Parents are the same everywhere." She then frowned. "Except, my mom is the warrior leader."

The others laughed at them as they crossed the devastated city, to find out what their first task would be.

Slowly, the gates of Harrogath clanked shut behind them. The snowfall had slowed, leaving only a thin dusting of white across the torn landscape. Hefting their weapons, they looked north, up the mountain. "So, we're supposed to find this overseer who's in charge of the siege?" Erris asked, almost rhetorically.

Rupert nodded, stepping out across the muddy ground. With their breath smoking, the others followed him. Before they had gone a dozen steps, they began to see bodies littering the landscape - some demon, some barbarian warriors. Ron Bars' face turned grim as they passed more bodies.

But before long, they found battle. Across the entire lower slopes, demons fought the fierce tribes of the mountain. The heroes seemed to fight their way up the foothills with an ever-changing company of barbarians. Halfway up the foothills, the trail narrowed dangerously.

Broken war machines had sunk into the mud, leaving a narrow path scarcely wide enough for one person. But atop the broken siege engines hunched a company of imps, and from behind it came a company of the piggish warriors. As the other barbarians charged into the bottleneck, the heroes waited, using their skills to try and pick off the imps.

Then Rupert snapped his fingers. Grabbing Ron Bars and Garou, he headed for the war machine closest to the edge of the cliff. Taking hold of one side, all three of them heaved. Their feet sunk into the mud past their ankles, but the siege engine started to slide through the freezing mud.

Slowly, one wheel slid off the edge of the cliff. With a tortured shriek of metal, the entire engine started to bend. The heroes fought to pull away, barely freeing themselves from the mud as the entire thing went crashing away down the slopes.

With the path now widened, the demons were easily pushed back by the combined might of the heroes and the barbarian warriors. Forcing their way through the demonic ranks, they fought towards the summit. "The overseer is probably near the staircase," Ron Bars shouted over the noise of battle.

"What staircase?" Jezebel asked, incinerating another demon.

"When the tribes first started making pilgrimages to the peak of Mount Arreat, they had to carve stone stairs through some places. Right by the first staircase is a flat platform area. It would be an excellent lookout spot." During a short break in the battle, he sketched in the dirt what he meant.

Rupert looked at the drawing. "Well, if we can, we should go around the side here. Then we at least might be able to catch him in the flank." Looking up, Rupert flattened himself to the ground. "Look out!"

Everyone looked up to see a magical catapult shot flying towards them. Quickly, Ron Bars dropped his axes, and picked up a fallen demon's club. Winding up, he swung to hit it. The ball shattered, covering Ron Bars with shards of ice.

After Erris helped him to wipe the ice from his face, they continued up the mountain.

They neared the staircase, as the rocky shelf closed up against the cliff face again. Abandoning the rampaging horde of barbarians, the heroes kept to the side of the cliff, moving in the shadows as they tried to fight quietly. Soon they were at the base of the stone staircase, watching the bloated Overseer and his piggish bodyguards.

Rupert gave a signal, and they charged forth from their hiding spot. Garou whooped in triumph as he swiped at a hunch-backed demon, only to reel back in shock as the demon exploded. But with surprise on their side, the bodyguards were killed, and the Overseer proved no more difficult than them. Bleeding and burned, a last arrow sent the demon toppling from his perch to land below, where a few straggler barbarians hacked apart the corpse.

Ron Bars hung his axes from his belt, and brushed his hands together. "That was easy. Let's get back to Harrogath before nightfall, and find out what needs to be done next." As they started to turn back for the city, a sudden barrage of magical energy came flying down from higher up the mountain. Poisonous clouds obscured their vision, while electrical bolts singed their feet.

Soon the attack ended, however, and the heroes lost no time in moving back down the mountain to the city.

Larzuk smiled broadly as they walked up the steps to his forge. "Congratulations! I'm glad that didn't take you very long. We've been suffering under this siege for far too long, anyway. Tell you what, as a reward, I'll work a socket into a piece of your equipment."

Erris looked at him blankly. "What's that for?"

The blacksmith hesitated. "Well, if you put a magical rune, or a gemstone, into your equipment, it'll grant it magical properties." He looked around the heroes. "You mean to tell me none of you have ever used socketed equipment?"

Jezebel shook her head. "Nope, but I was wondering why my staff had these three little holes here. They work great for storing scrolls, though." She held up her staff, whacking Rupert in the back of the head as she did so.

Ron Bars had turned red, and carefully removed a small pouch from under his armor. He spilled out a little bit of the contents into his hands. Gemstones of all types and cuts, mixed in with small pieces of slate or bone, sparkled in the firelight from the forge. "I've been picking these up since we ran into Blood Raven. My dad collects runes."

Though somewhat angry, the others forgave their friend, and carefully followed Larzuk's instructions to place the potent runes and gems into their gear. Feeling empowered, the crossed back to the main square in the swiftly growing darkness.

From up ahead, they heard a sharp hiss, and then an oil lamp sprang to light. Huddling together for warmth, they hurried over to Qual-Kehk and Cain, bent over the lamp and a rough map.

"Now, here, the demons have been building up fortified walls, trenches, all that stuff. Some of our warriors were caught coming down the mountain, and I know they're being kept prisoner somewhere around here." The mercenary leader circled a small area of the mountain.

Rupert looked at the map as well. "How many prisoners do they still hold? We have to go up the mountain after Baal, we might be able to free some of them."

The man sighed, and ran a hand over his graying beard. "At least fifty. But I don't know how many will still be alive." He stared up at the sky. "The snow is coming, and it'll hit hard very soon. Those demons haven't been feeding their prisoners."

Oksana clapped him on the back jovially. "Don't worry, we'll be sure to get them out of there if we can. But with this storm coming, where can we sleep for the night?"

Qual-Kehk bowed his head sadly. "The siege has sadly left many empty houses. If you see one marked with a skull, then it is empty. You can use some of those, but please don't disturb the contents of the house."

Garou nodded. "Of course not. We'll do everything we can to save your men tomorrow." The mercenary leader waved them away dispiritedly, save for a hug from his son.

His breath frosting, Rupert headed away from the rest of the group, back towards the forge to talk with Larzuk before the night. The others paired off, picking an abandoned dwelling each, hurrying to shelter before the might of the storm hit.

The blizzard struck that night, dropping snow like an avalanche over the city and the slopes of the mountain. The morning sun shone down on the city of Harrogath, half-buried in the bright, white fluff. As Oksana and Tharos climbed out of a window, they could see a few people around at the dawn hour, most with shovels or thick brooms, clearing paths through the snow. They both shivered, clutching each other close for warmth.

Slowly, they reassembled in the square, led only by Ron Bars' familiarity with his city. Rupert came stumbling up last, and Garou sniffed him strangely. "You slept all night in front of the forge?"

Rupert might have blushed, but it didn't show through already snow-roughened cheeks. "The blizzard hit before Larzuk and I finished talking. And it was warm."

Oksana giggled. "Too bad, you might have heard the wolf howl last night." To her surprise, it was Jezebel that blushed furiously at that, not Garou. The druid did shift into his werewolf form, sighing in relief with his extra fur coat.

Erris gestured impatiently towards the closed gate, and the heroes reluctantly started forward. Ice-covered gears clattered as the gate raised, and they stepped out onto the mountain. It looked deceivingly beautiful, the devastation of the siege hidden by a blanket of white.

Before they could start forward, Ron Bars took off his pack, passing around several pairs of snowshoes. Awkwardly strapping them on, the group hiked up the mountain, leaving large, shallow marks in the snow. When they reached the staircase, however, they were forced to stop.

The snow covered it like a large ramp, and Rupert snorted, looking up at it. "How the heck are we supposed to climb it with all the snow?" In response, the barbarian walked up to the base, and took off his snowshoes, sinking to his waist in the snow. Carefully holding the freezing rock on one side, he pushed his way through the snow to the top.

Reluctantly, the others followed him. The slope above was less thick with snow, and in many places seemed plowed clear. Other spots showed clear spots of melting - before the snow refroze as a slippery patch of ice. Erris shivered, looking across the blinding landscape. "Now this is truly Hell," she muttered.

Ron Bars sighed, putting his snowshoes back into his pack. "We should keep moving. There's obviously demons around here. And some of my people need to be saved." Drawing their weapons anew, they started forward.

Ron Bars and Garou charged desperately after another flame-throwing demon imp. But as before, just before they reached the demon, it teleported away in a whoosh of fire. Looking around, they saw it perched on a rock, sticking out a forked tongue at them. As the barbarian lifted an axe to throw it, a pair of skeletons grabbed it from behind, poison seeping through their hands and rotting the demon away.

Another imp popped into place next to Garou, and without hesitation the druid grabbed it, tearing out the demon's throat. Jezebel looked nauseous. "You'd better do something to clean out that mouth before you even think of kissing me," she muttered. His sharp wolf ears caught the words, and he whimpered in mock innocence.

"Enough banter," Rupert interrupted. "I think that's the first line of barricades." Barely visible under the snow was a hastily constructed stone wall. Crude towers, with sharpened poles sticking out from the top, looked like perfect sniping positions for the imps. "Let's see if we can find one of those prisoner pens."

They strode forward in the knee-deep snow, letting arrows and spells deal with a few straggling demons. Reaching the wall, Oksana looked in both directions. "How are we supposed to get through? Or should we just climb over?"

Ron Bars snorted, carefully dropping an axe into the snow. He pulled back and punched the wall. With a rumble, a whole section collapsed. From the other side, a group of giant, bear-like demons roared and charged, shaking the earth with every step. Many of them also bore baskets on their back, perfect perches for the demon imps.

Despite their size, the beasts proved to be no more formidable than other monsters. Soon they had crossed into the small maze of fortified walls, happily using the confined spaces to strike down the teleporting demons. From behind another wall came a barbarian war cry, and Ron Bars and Garou charged the wall, knocking down a huge section.

The prisoner pen was a pitiful sight. Only five warriors remained alive, all of them looking badly starved and mostly frozen. Piled against one side of the wooden fence were over twenty corpses, all of them frozen to death during the cruel night. Jezebel tossed a scroll over the fence, and one of the warriors read it out.

As they hobbled through to safety, one imp teleported into the pen. The barbarian who had read the scroll turned, and they traded blows. Unfortunately for the imp, the single punch was enough to send it flying backward, shattering the wooden fence. Pointing a stern finger at the corpses, he boomed, "I'll be back," before also stepping to safety.

Erris looked around at the ruin and the corpses. "Your dad isn't going to be real happy about this, Ron," she said, concerned. "If this is how many people survived here, I'm worried how many survived at the other two prisoner pens." The barbarian hero nodded grimly.

Rupert turned, starting to lead the party further up the mountain towards the next set of entrenchments. Erris interrupted him. "Hey, Rupert? You mind if I join you?"

He turned back, looking at her confused. "What's the matter?"

In disgust, she pointed at her feet. "I got frozen to the soil by those damn imps."

Jezebel laughed, and set a gout of flame at Erris' feet. Steam rose in a billowing cloud, and the amazon quickly lurched free, trying to shake the moisture out of her hair. "Great, now it'll probably freeze solid," she muttered.

Several hundred yards up the mountain, they again chased imps back and forth across the icy landscape. Rupert finally managed to bash the last one, and they turned to the new set of walls. Ron Bars let out a warcry, and waited. From off to one side came an answering shout, and the heroes raced along the wall.

Imps teleported into the towers along the wall, using their positions to fire as the racing heroes. But the towers were just as shoddy as the rest of the wall, easily falling to a strong punch, or an occasional well placed arrow. Nearing the spot of the prisoner pen, Oksana leaped up on the wall, traps in hand.

But from the other side of the wall came such a massive firey attack, it picked her off the wall, tossing her through the air to land, a dozen feet away in the snow, her armor and cloak smoking. Tharos ran to her side, helping her drink a healing potion, then walked back to the wall, his face set in a grimace of anger.

Pulling his dagger from his belt, he cast it to the ground, waving his wand and chanting. As the others watched, the metal deformed, growing rapidly in size. Soon, an eight-foot, metal giant stood there next to the wall. Following its master's commands, the golem turned to the wall, and squatted.

Metal hands punched through the base of the wall, then heaved. A twenty foot section of wall went flying into the air, the stones raining down on the crowd of imps behind it. Their fire bolts did not even leave marks on the metal hide, and the golem used every sharpened limb to attack the imps.

The others watched, impressed and a little frightened, as the golem decimated the demons. When the last few teleported away, bleeding and fleeing the magical monster, the golem finally slowed. It approached the pen, and the five survivors backed away as the golem carefully tore apart the wooden palisade.

Oksana had risen, and stood next to Tharos. Quietly, she asked, "I don't suppose you can train one of those to do housekeeping, can you?" Unexpectedly, he burst out into laughter. Further away in the maze of stonework, they could hear demons, frightened and confused by their latest opponents, talking in some demonic tongue.

Ron Bars hushed him. "Not so loud, Tharos." He looked up the mountain anxiously. "The biggest danger of this is not demons, but an avalanche."

Garou waved a paw in dismissal. "What's to worry about? It's just snow."

He shook his head angrily. "Try saying that when you've been buried under fifty feet of snow and frozen mud." He gazed up the cliff at a higher part of the mountain. "We're probably safe for the morning, but in the afternoon, once the sun has been shining all day … it would be the simplest way for Baal to kill us all."

Jezebel handed the prisoners another scroll. But the thought of Baal left everyone silent, as they continued their way up the mountain, towards the third prisoner pen.

Tharos growled in annoyance, as his iron golem went dashing back and forth across the landscape, churning together snow and mud. But an arrow clipped the demon imp, knocking it to the ground, and the golem trampled the body into the mud before it could rise. "I really hate these imps," he muttered.

Jezebel nodded, casting a lightning bolt at an imp, but missing, the bolt striking the mountainside, bringing down a small avalanche of snow and rock. "If the little bastards would just hold still for a moment," she grumbled.

Before long, they saw the next, and hopefully last, set of barricades along the mountain. With Ron Bars leading the way, they broke down the walls, sending more demons back to oblivion as they searched for the captive barbarians.

Before long, they shattered another wall, finding the wooden palisade that should have held the prisoners. But the gate lay open, and other than a pair of frozen corpses, the cage was empty. They all stared at it in surprise. "What happened to them? Where could they have gone?"

Oksana clambered up onto a wall, and pointed up the mountain in dismay. The others quickly worked their way out of the stone maze to follow her pointing arm. Under an archway of dark granite, a large group of imps were herding the last prisoners through a red portal.

"That looks like another portal to Hell," Erris groaned, as the heroes charged up the slope, fighting their way through the snow to rescue the barbarian warriors. "How the heck did they get a portal to Hell here?"

They skidded to a stop before the platform. Around the edges came an orange, fiery light, and great heat. All around the portal the snow had melted away. Jezebel carefully walked up to the archway, and examined the carved granite. "I think Baal must have brought these with him. If we destroy the archway, it should close the portal."

Ron Bars strode up to the portal, his axes in hand. "First, we go rescue the warriors. Then we'll destroy this evil thing." He stalked through, and the others followed him nervously.

Ron Bars had moved so quickly through the portal that the two waiting imps actually missed him with their fire bolts. With a roar of anger, he lunged, striking one with the flat of his axe, casting the demon backwards into the river of flame. Oksana, next through the portal, gutted the other imp before it could attack again.

Grouping together, they moved along the stone path, fighting off imps, piggish demons, and their overseers. Finally, they stood at a bridge. On the other side, they could see the barbarian prisoners, tied together and forced to kneel. Standing over them were several minotaurs, armed with duel axes like Ron Bars.

The largest among them stood over one of the prisoners, raising his axes. But before he could strike the helpless captive, Ron Bars gave out a shout. The minotaur turned, his eyes narrowing. No one recognized the language, but the mocking tone, and the insolent look on Ron Bars' face was clear enough. With a bellowing roar, the demon charged.

The warrior stood in the center of the bridge, his axes dangling at his sides, completely unworried. But when the demon closed to within a step, he suddenly dropped prone, swinging both of his axes. The demon tried to stop, but his hooves only struck sparks from the stone bridge.

The double impact against his legs rent the air with a loud crack as the demon's bones shattered, sending it flying through the air to crash into a broken siege engine. With another mighty roar, Ron Bars leaped to his feat. The other minotaurs shared a nervous glance, then hefted their weapons and charged.

The other heroes joined Ron Bars to strike down the demons. Carefully, they cut the prisoner's bonds, as Erris stood over the unconscious body of the leader. "What a bunch of bastards," she said angrily. "I mean, they brought all of you down here to kill you!" The minotaur by her feet stirred, and she promptly kicked it in the throat.

Rupert winced, as the demon gurgled his last breaths through a crushed windpipe. "Was that really necessary?" he asked her, helping one of the captives to his feet.

Oksana shrugged at him, searching the body of a minotaur. "They are only demons. Why should we show them kindness?"

Rupert thought about it for a moment, and shrugged. "I don't know. I just don't like seeing pointless cruelty. It makes us no better than those demons." Supporting the weakened barbarian, he led the way back to the portal and out of Hell.

With the others helping the captives, Ron Bars and Garou each stood on one side of the arch. With a mighty heave, they ripped the stone arch free of the ground, the dropped it, standing back as it swung down to shatter against the ground. Instantly, the orange light and heat stopped as the portal vanished.

Jezebel pulled out the last scroll of town portal, reading it, and helping the rescued barbarians through first. Erris wrapped her cloak tighter around her. "Why does it have to be so cold on this angel-forsaken mountain?" Chuckling, Ron Bars wrapped his arms and his larger cloak around her, and they followed the others back to Harrogath.

Back in the city, on the lower slopes of the mountain, snow had started falling again. Qual-Kehk was helping one of the injured barbarians up the stairs to his wife's hospital, and the heroes followed, helping the other rescued prisoners. With a heavy sigh, the mercenary leader lowered his charge onto a thin pallet. "Fifteen men left," he sighed again.

Rupert stepped forward, looking slightly chagrinned. "I'm sorry, Qual-Kehk, but there was nothing we could do."

He looked up in surprise, and shook his head vehemently. "Don't worry lad, I don't blame any of you. All the blame lies squarely with Baal and his demons." He spit on the stone floor, earning him a baleful look from his wife.

Malah approached, and shared a brief hug with her husband and her son. "Have you found anything more about Anya?" Qual-Kehk shook his head worriedly, and Malah bit her lip. "I don't know what could have happened to the poor girl," she said.

Jezebel looked from Malah to Ron Bars. "Who's Anya?" she asked.

Ron Bars grimaced, looking at Erris. "She's the daughter of one of the elders, and my ex. What happened to her?" Erris looked back and forth between him and Malah, her eyes narrowed.

"Last night, after all of you had retired to empty houses, I heard them in the main square arguing. I don't know what they were arguing about, but it ended with Nihlathak stalking away. This morning, Anya didn't show up to help me with the wounded. That worm Nihlathak said he didn't know where she had gone, but now he's been missing all day." Malah's eyes were bright and suspicious. "I smell a trap," she declared.

Bidding farewells, the heroes went back down to the square, talking quietly amongst themselves. "So, I take it your mother isn't very thrilled that you and Anya never completed a courtship," Erris said, her voice carefully neutral.

Ron Bars groaned. "We were born on the same day, exactly one year apart. Ever since we were kids, both of our parents have been pushing us towards getting married one day." He sat down on the edge of a snow-covered wall, axe handles quietly thumping against the stone. "We only dated because we got tired listening to our parents complain. Believe me, she was the happiest person to see me leave Harrogath."

Mollified, Erris slid onto his lap, wrapping his cloak around her. Rupert pulled off his helmet, swapping it for a fur cap. "So why is Anya so important, anyway?"

"Well, for starters, she's the daughter – and only child – of one of the village elders." Ron Bars shrugged. "On the death of an Elder, the rest of the council is supposed to decide on who replaces him. It's always been one of his sons. But since she doesn't have any brothers, she's been agitating that she should replace her father when his time comes."

Tharos chuckled. "I'd imagine she's not having an easy time of it," he said, leaning back against one of his skeletons.

Ron Bars chuckled. "Not really, no. There's nothing that says she couldn't be – just a very long tradition."

"Larzuk also said that Anya was responsible for most of the trade that went on through the siege," Rupert interjected. "But what could she have known that would make Nihlathak want to keep her out of the way?"

Jezebel sighed, shivering in the cold night air. "Right now, I don't care. We should all get some sleep, and try to worry about it in the morning."

Garou nodded agreement with her, wrapping were-wolf arms around her. "I don't think the city supplies will be in danger now, since we've broken the siege lines for several miles. What do we have to look forward to, further up the mountain, Ron?"

The barbarian looked grim. "There's another long plateau, like the ones we've been fighting across. After that, the only way to get further up the mountain is to climb through the caves."

Erris groaned as they split up to return to their temporary homes. "I hate caves. I really hate caves. They're just bound to be full of more Fallen!"

Rupert chuckled, watching his friends close doors behind them. Looking around the street, he changed course, crossing the city swiftly, his steps hurried and somewhat furtive. Reaching his destination, he crept up the steps and tapped quietly on the door. After a moment, the bolt drew back, and a callused hand pulled him inside. "I wondered if you were coming back," Larzuk said quietly, a twinkle in his eyes.

In the bright morning air, they assembled again in the square, filing grimly through to the mountain. Whorls of frost made dizzying patterns in the mud, but the heroes paid no attention as they tramped up the side of Mount Arreat in the thin, freezing air.

In almost no time, they had reached another set of stairs, this one covered with scraggly bushes and stunted pine trees. Pieces of broken fence could still be seen in some spots, evidence of the barbarian tribesmen who used to live there. Squinting against the glare of the sun off the snow, they fought forward.

Because of the bright morning light, they didn't see the fire, or the demons around it, until Garou stumbled through the bushes and stepped on one. Demons roared, leaping to their feet and grasping weapons. Ron Bars gave a war cry, and the heroes rushed into battle, eager to get adrenaline flowing.

The pig-faced demons were dispatched quickly, and Oksana wiped blood from the edge of her cestus. "That's the second best way to wake up in the morning," she said cheerfully, winking at Tharos.

Jezebel gave a wry smile. "Yes, and I'm sure the whole city of Harrogath heard you waking up the best way," she chided. Oksana winked, not embarrassed in the slightest.

Rupert rolled his eyes. "Come on. We've got to get further up this plateau and find the tunnels. We've got to catch up to Baal before he reaches the summit."

As the sun rose higher, more demons came out, and soon their trek up the mountain was the non-stop battle they had come to expect. A death mauler's tentacle sprang out of the ground from behind a rock, and Garou ripped it free of the ground. Hearing the demon scream, Oksana lobbed a firebomb over the rock.

Halfway up the plateau, Ron Bars slowed. The others, noticing him lagging behind, dropped back. "What is it, Ron?" Erris asked him.

He shook his head irritably, looking around the mountain and sniffing the air. Garou raised his muzzle, scenting the air as well. "There must be another portal to Hell nearby," he muttered, and Ron Bars nodded. The two of them took the lead, following the faint scent of sulfur and brimstone.

They found it, nestled into a small cubby against the sheer cliff of the mountain. The carved stone pillars were almost identical, down to the tortured leering on the skulls. Rupert sighed. "Well, should we head in and kill some more demons, or just wreck the portal?"

Tharos smiled, and his golem clattered forward, churning snow and mud in its wake. "Let's go in after them. Who knows, we might find something useful inside."

Erris nodded, fitting another arrow to her bow. "And if not, it's still worth it to kill some demons," she muttered under her breath.

Halfway along another stone path, Oksana paused to wipe sweat from her brow with one arm, using the other to block the clumsy attacks from a demon. With a snort of contempt, she kicked the demon between his legs, her greaves clanking noisily from the impact. As the demon doubled over, she cut his throat open, jumping over the body to avoid the splashing blood.

The heroes fought on through hordes of the pig demons, strong in their element and eager to destroy the minions of evil. Even Rupert was grinning, knocking a demon into the river of fire with his shield. Up ahead, they could see the end of the walkway, with a group of minotaurs guarding the chest.

Leading the group, Tharos' golem clanked ahead, building up speed with demons diving aside rather than face it. Charging swiftly behind it, the heroes followed, bellowing war cries and more simple shouts of intimidation. But the leader of the minotaur stepped forward fearlessly to face the golem. The two met in a fury of blows.

In amazement, the heroes watched. The minotaur had dropped to his knees at the last moment, swinging his axes in at the golem's legs. But instead of trying to sever them, the minotaur locked his weapon between the iron spikes, and flung the golem into the air. It went straight up into the air, rising at least forty feet before plummeting, right down towards the waiting minotaur.

With a loud clang, the minotaur swung his axes down, adding their momentum, as the golem slammed crushingly into the stone platform, sending stone and iron chips flying everywhere. Barely scratched, the minotaur gave a bellow of his own, leaping over the fallen golem.

With a rumble, the stone platform started to crack, lines racing out from the golem. One of the other minotaurs stumbled, trying to keep his balance as the stone floor split beneath his feet. As the crack widened, a piece drifted away onto the stone river, it fell with a pitiful bellow, splashing flames everywhere. Everyone stood for a moment, watching as the platform splintered apart, pieces drifting away before sinking down under the flames.

Dogmeat whined as the cracks started to extend up the walkway towards them. "Rupert, can I make a suggestion?" Jezebel asked worriedly.

"Sure," he answered, raising his shield as spattered of flames splashed up from another minotaur falling.

"We run like hell back to the portal," she said, starting to step back. The closest to the destruction, Ron Bars almost fell in when a piece of stone split away right under his foot. The heroes backed away, watching the horrified minotaur leader still standing on the largest piece of the platform, slowly sinking into the fires.

With another loud crack, the walkway split in two, the sides starting to drift apart. Jezebel screamed, falling to her knees as her staff rolled over the edge. Without breaking stride, Garou picked her up, Dogmeat barking furiously from somewhere closer to the portal. They leaped over cracks, racing to the portal before the entire walkway collapsed, sinking to the bottom of the eternal river of flames.

They were almost at the portal, when another large crack echoed out. Dogmeat yelped in terror, as the piece of stone he waited on drifted away from the portal. He ran back and forth along the edge, too terrified to jump back to safety. Taking a careful step back, Oksana leaped over the growing, ten-foot span of flames, landing next to the cowering Dogmeat.

With a grunt, she managed to pick him up. But her landing had pushed the stone further away, and it was sinking rapidly. With flames licking around her boots, she called over to the others. "Go on without us, stopping Baal is more important!" She tried to say more, but choked on her tears.

Jezebel shook her head, raising her empty hands and narrowing her eyes. With a deep breath, she reached out and cupped her hands. To their great surprise, Oksana rose into the air, fighting hard to keep the scared Dogmeat from squirming away. Sweat poured off Jezebel's brow as they started to drift forward, buoyed by her telekinesis spell. They watched anxiously, their own stone piece shrinking rapidly as the edges frayed apart into the flames.

When they were almost at the edge, Jezebel groaned, her eyes rolling up in her head as she dropped into unconsciousness. Garou caught her, but the others watched, horrified, as Oksana and Dogmeat plummeted the few short feet towards the flames, only inches away from their reach.

Just before they hit the surface, charred skeletons leaped up from the flames, catching them and throwing them towards the edge of the stone. They all rushed through the portal, moments before their walkway collapsed completely. Resting in the snow, Garou stroking Jezebel's unconscious face, it took them all several minutes before they could compose themselves to continue.

Back in the river of flames, the two skeletons floated on the surface, watching the portal close. They looked at each other, and one held up a sign. "How rude," it said, "We just saved their lives, and they didn't even call out thank you as they left."

"Indeed," answered the other sign, "but what did you expect from the living? All leading such misguided lives. They cannot stop the Lord of Destruction, no matter what they try."

"More's the pity" the first one replied, as they began to sink beneath the flames. The second merely nodded.

With Jezebel returned to consciousness, and Dogmeat's burned paws wrapped with bandages, the heroes pressed on. The sun was dropping rapidly towards the horizon, giving the snow-covered valley below them the look of a million candles. Not too far ahead, where Ron Bars pointed, they could see the yawning entrance to the tunnel.

They reached the tunnel, gratefully stepping inside out of the wind, scant seconds before the sun disappeared. Darkness closed around them like a suffocating blanket, leaving them in hazy twilight until they could light torches. The firelight reflected and refracted in the ice, dancing orange light giving the tunnels a surreal glow.

The tunnel stretched out to their right, ice sculptures of fearsome bear-like creatures lining the walls. Ron Bars frowned, but started leading them deeper, towards the ice staircase somewhere up the mountain. Finally, he stopped, growling in frustration. "Something isn't right here," he muttered, looking back and forth as he waved his axes.

Garou sniffed, nodded. "I smell demons somewhere. But the smell of the ice itself makes it difficult." Jezebel raised her empty hands, tossing globes of magical light towards the ceiling.

Oksana stepped closer to one of the statues, peering intently at it. "These statues are amazing, Ron. How did your people learn to carve such lifelike appearances?"

Then the statue roared, frozen breath covering Oksana's face in a layer of ice. She fell to the ground, scraping her cestus against the ice as tortured lungs gasped for breath. All around them, the statues came to life, spraying ice from their mouths. Rupert staggered backwards, surprised as his scepter shattered one into nothing more than a spray of mist and slivers of ice.

Jezebel screamed as one of the ice monsters picked her up, forgetting her magic momentarily as she pounded the shaggy head. Then she put her hands against the beast's arms, gouts of flame turning it into little more than a swirl of steam.

Despite the original surprise, the ice monsters were all melted or shattered quickly. With Oksana freed from the icy mask forced upon her, they all stopped again. Erris looked around the tunnel nervously. "Ok, let's look at this – Jezebel has no staff, Tharos lost all his minions, and we're all tired and past sunset. Time to return to Harrogath. Maybe we can ask Qual-Kehk, or one of the other barbarians for advice on how to get through these tunnels."

Jezebel chuckled wryly, leaning back against an ice-covered wall. "I'd love to, except for one little problem. All my scrolls went into the flames with my staff." Looking hopeless, she hit her thigh with a fist. "Either we tough it out here, or walk all the way back down the mountain in the middle of the night."

Ron Bars shook his head. "No way. Even if we didn't fall off the mountain, or get ambushed by any demons we didn't kill, we'd freeze solid before we got back to Harrogath."

Rupert swore, throwing his scepter against the wall. It bounced back, the others wincing at the loud echoes. Realizing what he had done, Rupert reached down, picking up his scepter. The head had come loose, and as he dropped it in defeat, fell off entirely.

With a cry of delight, Erris picked up the handle, reaching inside with her fingers. Grunting, she carefully pulled out a very old and weathered scroll. The edges were tattered, and it was starting to crack, but the scroll was in good enough shape for Jezebel to read out the runes.

Gratefully, they all stumbled back into Harrogath, Rupert holding the broken halves of his scepter. As they began to split up for the night, Garou stopped the paladin with a hand. "Going back to the forge tonight?"

Rupert blushed, and started to stammer out a reply. Garou laughed, stopped his half-formed protest. "Just don't forget to ask if he can do anything for Jezebel's staff. And maybe a spare weapon, so Tharos can make another golem."

Speechless, Rupert stood there in the darkness, watching the druid rejoin Jezebel and disappear into the abandoned house. Eventually, he turned, stumbling through the deserted streets of Harrogath, back to Larzuk's forge.

The next morning, six heroes assembled in the town square very shortly after the break of dawn. The air was thick with the smells of cooking and the sounds of fresh construction, repairing the walls after the long siege. Finally, Erris huffed, "Where the heck is Rupert?"

Almost as if answering her question, he came into view. They stared, jaws hanging open in shock, as he dragged a massive plow up, dropping it at Tharos' feet. "There," he panted, "Larzuk found that piece of scrap and said you could use it for a golem. Oh, and before I forget," he picked up the staff that had been tied to the plow handle, "This is for you."

Jezebel took the new staff, testing the feel and the weight. The others kept staring at the plow. "We had a plow?" Ron Bars asked in very clear surprise. "How the heck did he dig up that old thing? I can't remember anyone ever trying to farm up here on the slopes."

Tharos tapped the pitted wooden handle with his wand, then looked at Rupert. "You have GOT to be kidding me. I've seen broken swords that would be of more use."

Rupert shrugged, leaning against a short stone wall. "Don't ask me, I just dragged it here. Larzuk said it was enchanted, too."

Erris was struggling not to laugh. "An enchanted plowshare, huh? What will he think of next – trading us magic beans to climb the rest of the way up the mountain?" Jezebel seemed to consider the idea seriously for a moment.

But a loud shout from Qual-Kehk interrupted her musings. "Ronnie!" he called, descending the stairs from the infirmary with another barbarian. The mercenary leader clapped his son heartily on the shoulder. "Ahnold here has volunteered to help you get through the tunnels and find Baal before he reaches the Ancients."

The other barbarian gave Qual-Kehk a salute, intoning seriously, "I'll be back."

The heroes exchanged worried glances, before Tharos sighed, carefully touching his wand to the plow. Raising his eyes to the sky, as if for guidance, he intoned the magic words, turning the plow into a golem. Despite its former incarnation, the golem appeared no different than the last one.

As Jezebel started passing everyone through the portal, Rupert looked at Ahnold. "Um, Ahnold, if you don't mind me asking, how did you get that large lump on your head?"

The barbarian growled, turning red and angrily saying, "It's not a tumah!"

Confused, Rupert nodded. "Of course not, but how did you get it?"

"It's not a tumah!" Any further words he might have said were stopped by Jezebel accidentally tripping Ahnold through the portal.

Ron Bars leaned over to whisper to Rupert. "He's not much on conversation. He got the lump as a kid when his father dropped him."

Rupert stared incredulously. "It covered a quarter of his head! How could that be from a minor childhood injury?"

Ron Bars winced. "His dad was standing guard duty on top of the walls when it happened."

They returned to the icy tunnels, rejoining the others. Rupert was last in the group, staring at his companion and wondering if he was joking.


	13. Anya and Nihlathak

Even in the middle of a battle with another group of ice monsters, many of the heroes eyes were glazed. The effects of reflecting torchlight off the frozen walls was hypnotizing, leaving the heroes feeling as though they were stuck in a strange dream or nightmare that they could not escape from. The only thing that kept them from falling completely under the spell was the clear, bright mage light at the top of Jezebel's staff.

Ahnold was fearless, charging recklessly into swarms of monsters, laying about with a sword taller than he was, cleaving away limbs of ice monsters and minotaurs. The others followed him, more slowly, as they struggled against the hypnotism of the ice and their own weariness.

Suddenly, a faint sobbing threaded through the air, just barely audible over the sound of their footsteps. Rupert raised his head, shaking off the effects of the ice. "Wait, everyone. Stop moving." The others started to shake themselves out of the daze as they, too, heard the faint crying. "Where is that coming from?"

Energized, Garou took the lead with a purpose, his sharp were-wolf ears picking out the faint noise even through their footsteps and clanking armor. Soon, they had found an ice staircase, winding down, further into the mountain. Ron Bars and Ahnold both stopped at the top of the stairs. "This isn't good," Ron said.

"What is it? Where do these stairs go, Ron?" Erris asked. "I mean, we're hearing someone crying, shouldn't we find out who it is?"

The two barbarians traded a grim look. "Down there is the frozen river. It used to be a safe passage to the other side of the mountain. But the ice is even more slippery and treacherous than these tunnels."

Rupert stepped past him, taking the first few steps down. "It's still something we should check out. You never know, that might be Anya down there." Grimacing, Ron Bars followed him down.

They emerged on the edge of the frozen river, along a narrow ledge of stone. Chunks of ice floated along the river, drifting to the slow current. Pale fish scattered from the sudden light. Garou stood at the edge of the river, his ears swiveling around as he tried to locate where the crying was coming from.

With a growl, he shifted back into human form. "I don't know what it is about this cavern, but there's just too many echoes in here. I have no idea which direction we should go." In response, Tharos set his wand on the stone, and spun it. When it came to a rest, they all looked to the left of the stairs.

With a shrug, they started off again, letting the golem go in front to test the strength of the stone ledge and ice. Once or twice, they had to stop as the stone creaked ominously, but the golem never fell in.

Suddenly, Ahnold stopped, pushing past the golem to take the lead. They followed him at a run, trying not to slip on the icy stone, watching their shadows leap and jump with the flickering torchlight. Suddenly, the ice shelf beneath the barbarian cracked, starting to slide into the water. He leaped, crashing heavily onto the stone ledge on the other side of the river.

The others managed to skid to a stop, catching each other to keep from falling into the river. One of the skeletons managed to keep Dogmeat from slipping over the edge, just before it overbalanced, dropping into the chill water with a dull splash, sinking to the bottom rapidly, magical flames still unquenched.

Erris looked at the broken path, then at Ahnold as he carefully stood up. "Great! How the heck are we supposed to get over there now?" She almost punched the stone wall, needing an outlet for her frustration.

Jezebel put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, this cavern can't be that big. We'll find another way around to where Ahnold is." Oksana tossed the stranded barbarian one of the torches, before they turned around, retracing their steps to find a better way through the caverns.

Almost as soon as they stepped into new areas of the caves, the heroes were attacked. More ice monsters, fighting alongside minotaurs, did their best to sweep the heroes away into the icy waters, to lie at the bottom of the frozen river. But bravely, they fought on, refusing to leave their stranded companion, or the mystery voice, down here in the caverns.

Soon, Tharos pointed off into the darkness, where an answering swell of light could faintly be seen. As they grew closer, they heard the sounds of battle, and hurried forward. Rushing around a corner of the stone wall, they found Ahnold, lowering his sword, surrounded by shards of ice.

With a grunt, the two barbarians clasped hands, before Ahnold pulled a rapidly-melting dagger of ice out of his arm. Reunited, they all took a breather as they waited, hoping to catch the sound of the crying voice again.

But sadly, the area now was deathly quiet. Nothing but their own breathing, and the soft ripples of flowing water, echoed through the cavern. Finally, Rupert stood up, taking the lead as they pressed on. Just like their first minutes in the cavern, everything was silent and still, as though the demons had never arrived.

After several more minutes of walking, Rupert stopped, pointing ahead. The others dimmed the light from the torches as best they could, and peered again. Indeed, another light shone from somewhere in the distance, indistinct and dimmed by the reflections.

Silently, Jezebel's mage light winked out, and as they grew closer, the torches were ground out against Rupert's shield. Soon the dancing flames of a fire could even be distinguished in their reflections, and they paused before turning a corner. Their path had taken them down a sloping tunnel, away from the current path of the frozen river.

On a silent signal from Rupert, they all dashed around the corner, ready to face whatever lay ahead in the light of the flames. Silent except for their stomping feet and clanking armor, they almost fell upon the demons unawares.

They would have succeeded, except that the sight took them by surprise. Almost a hundred demons kneeled in rows, their backs to the tunnel. At the far end of the cavern, surrounded by a circle of torches, was Anya. She had been tied in place, then slowly covered in layers of ice, until the only thing left unfrozen was her head.

Unfortunately for the heroes, at the head of the cavern was one of the largest ice beasts they had seen. It was some kind of leader to the monsters, and it had been facing the tunnel when they came rushing it. With a mighty frost-filled roar that shook the cavern walls, it stepped around the prisoner.

Their surprise lost, the two barbarians roared their warcries back at the demons, flying into the ranks of minotaurs with leading steel edge. Erris' first arrow forced the giant leader to duck behind his cohorts, shattering several of the icy spikes along his back.

With simple numbers, the demons pushed the heroes back into the tunnel. This, of course, proved that demons are stupid, as the close fighting quarters made the battle so much easier for the heroes. By the time the minotaurs had fought through a firewall and past the lightning traps and barrage of arrows, they could barely manage a single attack before falling dead.

When the press of minotaurs began to slacken, the heroes pushed forward again, driving into the main cavern to face off against the ice beast leader. But to their surprise, he was nowhere to be seen. After a quick search of the room provided no additional demons, the heroes clustered around the unconscious and frozen Anya.

Rupert tried to wake the girl, but to no effect. His paladin auras did not help her, and when Tharos tried to give her a healing potion, it dribbled out of her mouth, unswallowed. Jezebel finally stepped forward, and brought an Inferno spell to bear against the frozen pillar the girl was trapped in.

She held the fire against the ice for several minutes, before finally lowering the staff. Erris looked at the ice with fury. "You torched that thing for a handful of minutes, and it barely made a mark in it!" She kicked the pillar, then winced, hopping up and down on her other foot.

Anya took in a deep breath, forcing her eyes open. Everyone gathered around, as she whispered faintly, "Tell Malah … get an unfreezing potion … hurry." Her head drooped as she fainted again. Without a word, Jezebel stepped back from the group, pulling out a scroll.

As the portal opened, she hesitated. "Somebody has to stay here, and make sure Anya doesn't die before Malah can finish brewing this potion." The others all nodded. "Tharos, you come with me. Your minions can help carry supplies." They vanished, one by one, through the portal.

The other heroes settled down to wait, except for Oksana, who restlessly prowled the cave with a torch. Dogmeat whined, curling up between Garou and Rupert, sensing the doom and worry that pervaded the cave.

Suddenly, Oksana screamed, just as her torchlight vanished.

Jezebel ran across the city to Malah's infirmary, with Tharos and his minions following swiftly behind. She skidded to a stop just inside the door, almost trampling a wounded city guard in her rush. Panting for breath, she leaned against her staff. "We found Anya," she gasped between breaths.

Between the two heroes, they explained the trap Anya had been placed in. When Jezebel described the effect of her flame on the ice, Malah let loose a string of swear words that almost blistered the paint on the walls. "That dirty, vile snake Nihlathak!" she said, her voice venomous. "If he ever sets foot inside this city, no compact with any angel or demon will prevent my wrath!"

She hobbled across the infirmary to a large counter, and began pulling herbs and powders from the many cabinets nearby. Tharos watched for a moment, then headed back into the city. It looked like the others would be camped in front of Anya's prison for a while – several hours at least, perhaps days. He loaded up the golem with food for the group, and both skeletons with firewood for their stay in the cave, just in case.

Feeling a little bitter and helpless, waiting on Malah to mix the potion, he stomped back through the portal to the ice cave.

The others leaped up, grabbing their weapons as they dashed towards the rear of the cave. Ahnold almost tripped over the fallen torch, and it would have sent him to his death. Somehow, in their earlier search, the heroes had not noticed the giant tunnel, leading almost straight down for at least a hundred feet, at the rear of the cave.

Rupert picked up the torch. The end was covered in ice crystals, and he swore as he threw it over his shoulder. "That ice beast leader must have escaped through here, and we didn't even notice it until Oksana got grabbed by it!"

Ahnold leaned carefully over the edge of the tunnel, and spit down into the darkness. The ice on the sides of this tunnel was rough and jagged, forcing the light to shatter, cloaking the lower recesses. Erris took a chance, taking the torch from Rupert and dropping it down the tunnel. The flames disappeared shortly after it hit the bottom, but not before they could see where the passage leveled off again.

Garou swore as well. "Somehow, Oksana got carried away down there. But how the heck are we going to get down there to rescue her?" The others all shook their heads, muttering dispiritedly.

Tharos walked back into the cave, several minutes later, to find the others still gathered around the hole, discussing how to try and search for Oksana. None of them (except Ahnold, who was quickly ignored) even considered leaving her behind.

But at least for the moment, it appeared that the assassin was on her own.

Jezebel sat dejectedly in a corner of the infirmary, watching Malah work. The sun had set an hour before, but the hunchbacked woman made no sign of slowing her work with the injured. Few of them had new injuries, with the siege broken, but most of them were fighting off infection from their injuries.

The sorceress sighed, and was about to stand when the door pushed open, letting in a flurry of snowflakes along with Qual-Kehk. Jezebel watched them embrace, and the warrior join his wife in checking on the patients. Sighing again, she rose from her corner and walked over to examine the potion.

The small metal pot bubbled and steamed on a small bed of hot coals. Malah had said it would be ready sometime that night, but the sorceress had been waiting there all afternoon, and now past nightfall, waiting for it to finish.

Grumpily she went back to her corner, resting her head against her knees. How could she make Malah understand, they didn't have much time?

Everyone stood back from the hole as Tharos carefully maneuvered the golem into place. Then with a sharp crack, the golem slammed an arm into the ground. The two skeletons moved into place, using the magical fire to melt the spikes free of the golem, leaving them there, sticking out of the stone next to the tunnel mouth.

Then the golem stepped forward, sliding down the tunnel and into the darkness. They could hear its passage by the shattering ice that echoed back. Tharos then stood over the spike, holding his wand loosely. "I just hope this works the way I think it will," he muttered.

One skeleton kneeled down, grasping a broken spike with one hand. It leaned back, then seemed to unfold itself down the tunnel, turning into an odd, almost rope-like string of bones. The second skeleton slid down the first, unfolding itself when it reached the bottom. Magical fires lent scant light in the tunnel, melting away broken patches of ice.

Ron Bars, the largest and heaviest of the group, started carefully climbing down the skeletons to the bottom. He jumped off, landing the last few feet away from the rope, his axes ready. As the others descended, he managed to find the torch Erris had dropped down the tunnel, scraping away the ice and lighting it again.

Once everyone was gathered at the bottom, they set off exploring the tunnel, letting the clanking golem lead the way with a torch stuck between spikes. Before long, Garou and Ron Bars stopped, examining a series of scratches on the icy floor. "We're on the right trail," the druid said.

Oksana glared at the large ice beast, as it chained her to the stone wall. Nihlathak stood in another part of the cave, unconcerned with the chill air. When the former Elder looked her way, she spat at him.

"You have spirit, bratling of Tyrael," he chuckled. "But now you are embarking on a course you cannot hope to succeed. Baal is the master here, and soon the Prime Evils will rule over this world."

Oksana said nothing, testing her chains. Nihlathak chuckled again as the soft clanking noise. "Why do you fight so hard? You should be glad; at last, our cursed species will be granted the oblivion it deserves. We have been watching you, and we know all of your weaknesses."

She snorted. "Keep talking, traitor. My friends'll have your head mounted on a pike in front of the Harrogath gates." She rattled the chains again.

Nihlathak's face grew furious, and he stepped forward, slapping her several times, drawing blood where his ring cut her face. But Oksana accepted the blows stoically, spitting in his face the moment he stopped. He roared in rage, drawing a dagger from beneath his robes.

He never got a chance to use it. Grabbing her chains, Oksana flipped up, kicking him in the face and chest, knocking the fallen Elder away from her and onto his back. In seconds, she had freed herself from the chains, and drew her weapons again.

But Nihlathak did not meet her attack. With a shout in a demonic tongue, he threw something to the floor of the cave, filling the area with a thick, white smoke. The ice beast roared nearby, and Oksana threw herself flat, narrowly avoiding the massive swipe.

Her friends heard the roar, and went into a full charge. The golem disappeared into the smoke first, smashing right into the ice beast, knocking both of them over. Garou fought to clear the smoke away by summoning the winds, but the beast was back on its feet before they could see it.

Seeing her opponent clearly, Oksana tossed a pair of inferno traps up onto the monster's back, then rolled away towards the far side of the cave. Bare seconds later, the traps fired, cutting the beast in half with a cloud of steam. With a tortured roar, the beast collapsed, ice splinters showering the room.

Garou blew the rest of the smoke away as Tharos rushed over to Oksana. "What happened? Are you all right?" He helped her to her feet as she brushed away fragments of ice from her armor.

Oksana nodded. "It was Nihlathak. He was here, and he's definitely sided with Baal." She shivered, remembering his words. "He wants the world to end."

Lighting more torches, they searched the cave very carefully. But after a quarter hour of searching, no sign of Nihlathak, or any other tunnels, were found. "He must have teleported away," Rupert grumbled. "Don't worry, we'll find him at some point."

Reunited, they trooped back, climbing up the skeleton rope to wait beside Anya. When the girl wasn't unconscious, she muttered incoherently, whispering about demons and Nihlathak and the siege. Rupert managed to get her to drink part of a healing potion, but it seemed to help her very little.

They built a fire and shared a meal, wrapping themselves in cloaks and blankets to wait for the potion from Malah. Tharos had almost nodded off to sleep, his head pillowed on Oksana's chest, when he thought of something. Blinking at Garou, he asked, "What happened to your raven, Munin?"

The druid yawned, letting his werewolf features slip away for a moment. "Well, as you may not know, the tribes of Mount Arreat, and my druid people, were once close relatives. Long before the Prime Evils were banished to this world, they split over differences about protecting the mountain."

Ron Bars nodded. "Aye, my people stayed here, and yours moved into the great forests at the foot of the mountain."

"Yes. The druids were to prevent evil from reaching the mountain, and your tribes were supposed to hold off anyone who got passed us." He fell silent for a moment, staring into the fire. "Baal is here. That means he must have fought through my people. I sent Munin down the mountain, to bring back a message from whomever remains."

Erris reached over and patted Garou on the shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm sure your people are fine. I have heard tales of the size of that forest, and even Baal could not destroy it all."

Everyone grew silent again, lost in their own thoughts.

Sometime around midnight, she thought, Jezebel awoke. Malah stood near her, nudging the sorceress with her cane. "It is done, young sorceress," she said, holding up the bottle.

Jezebel leaped to her feet, almost knocking Malah over. "Thank goodness! We'll bring back Anya as soon as we can break her free of the ice!" She carefully tucked the potion into her belt, unbolting the door to the infirmary, dashing out into the cold, snowy night.

Everyone awoke as Jezebel came skidding back into the ice cave, dropping her staff. Rupert leaped up, catching her before she could fall. "Is the potion done? Where is it?" She carefully removed it from her belt, handing it to him.

With excitement, everyone gathered around Anya's prison as Rupert started pouring out the potion. Swirling like oil on fire, the potion almost leaped towards the ice, melting it away into nothingness as it consumed the magical ice. Several helping arms reached forward to hold her up as she began to topple, and they picked her up, carrying her back through the portal.

The storm picked up in fury as they carried their burden across town, shoving open the infirmary door again. With Malah watching carefully, they laid her down on an empty cot.

Suddenly, Anya gasped in pain, and everyone drew back a step. Buried in her side was a dagger, the end of the hilt shaped like Baal's face, twin rubies sparkling for eyes. With twin shouts of fury, Malah and Qual-Kehk forced everyone away from the bed. "Which one of you did this," the warrior roared, waking all the patients. "Which one of you is a traitor?"

The eight looked between themselves. Every face held an expression of horror and dismay, unbelieving that they could have been betrayed from within. Stunned, they allowed Qual-Kehk to force them outside, into the midnight darkness of Harrogath.

Ahnold looked around the group. "What now?"

Rupert shuddered, his face the color of ashes. "Go home, sleep if you can. Let's meet in the morning, at the forge. Maybe Larzuk can tell us something about the dagger then."

With wary looks, they separated, vanishing into their temporary homes.

The next morning, everyone gathered at the forge, let in by a grim-faced Larzuk. Rupert sat by the forge fire, his hands wrapped around a mug. When everyone had chosen a place to sit, he turned, looking them over one by one. Finally, he cleared his throat, and started talking.

"We all saw the dagger. Any one of us could have stabbed her, we were all standing so close together no one would have noticed it. And if the hilt is any indicator, it was demonically forged." He stopped for a moment, the others watching him, half in expectation, half in anxiety. "So now we have to figure out which one of you did it."

Garou spluttered in outrage. "What do you mean, which one of us? You're too good to be part of the group, mister high-and-mighty?"

Rupert scowled back. "Hardly! But I didn't stab Anya. I'm not about to kill anyone with a dishonorable, back-stabbing attack like that!"

Erris nodded, glaring at Tharos. "Besides, he's the only one of us who's ever used a dagger," she growled, pointing.

He leaped to his feet. "Oh, I get it. Just because I work with the dead means I'm here to kill everyone? If that was the case I never would have saved you all from Duriel!"

Ron Bars barked in laughter. "Sure, after you got yourself swallowed to avoid fighting! Not to mention that monster you summoned up in the desert back there!"

Garou snarled back at him. "Well, at least he's never lied to the group about anything. Like the ability to talk!"

Jezebel turned on him, slapping Garou across the face. "Hah, as if you're one to talk! Sending your pet carrion bird off with secret messages. How are we supposed to believe that you aren't the one in league with Baal?"

Oksana glared at her. "As if you're one to talk, mage. Who else would know how to use a demon-forged weapon?"

Rupert snorted. "Oh, I'm so sure that you, as an assassin, would know plenty enough about stabbing someone in the back."

The argument drew even more heated, the insults flying freely. Suddenly, Larzuk stormed into the group, shoving everyone apart. "This is Baal's doing!" he roared, shaking the very building.

Everyone grew silent, focusing their anger at Larzuk. "Can't you see this is the work of Baal? How much easier his task would be if he destroyed your friendship, your cooperation? He possesses the greatest human mage known, Tal Rasha. Are all of you so blinded by his spell you'll kill each other for him?"

Larzuk watched each of them carefully in turn, as they digested his words. Finally, Tharos nodded. "You're right, even if a part of me does not want to accept it." He took a deep breath, still fighting to calm his temper. "But if one of us didn't plant the dagger, how did Anya get stabbed?"

The blacksmith smiled thinly. "Nihlathak is no stranger to the forces of magic. Rupert told me that he vanished from the cave where you saw him. If he can teleport himself away, why could he not teleport a dagger in?"

Jezebel widened her eyes, then thumped her hand against her forehead. "Of course, it makes so much sense. Baal gives him the dagger, enchanted to sow hatred and discord, and we fall for it so easily." She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to hold back tears of embarrassment.

Larzuk nodded slowly. "I don't know all that much about magical spells. But it does seem the most likely, at least more than one of you having been a pawn of evil all this time." He took the mug back from Rupert, and walked to the door. "Right now, you should all go check on Anya, and then perhaps get back to your task at hand – tracking down the Lord of Destruction."

With reluctant nods, the heroes trekked back out into the snow.

Reluctantly, Qual-Kehk allowed them back into the infirmary, after Rupert explained their thoughts about Nihlathak. Malah gently shook the sleeping girl awake, and she looked up at the group of heroes for several silent moments.

"Thank you, for rescuing me from Nihlathak. But it is very grave news I must give you." Anya fell silent again, gathering her strength. "At the top of the mountain, guarding the entrance to the Worldstone chambers, are three of the greatest heroes of our tribes. There is a special relic, which allows one to pass by them unchallenged.

"Nihlathak has given it to Baal. After the other members of the council sacrificed themselves, to lay a spell of protection over the city, he went to the demon and offered him the relic if he would leave the city undestroyed." Coughing, she paused as Malah helped her sit up and drink from a cup. "That is why Cain was so surprised to see the city looking so undamaged, I think."

Rupert scowled. "If Baal has this token, how are we supposed to pass by the spirits of your ancestors to stop him?"

Anya chuckled softly. "In true fashion, you must fight and defeat them. But first, Nihlathak must be dealt with. He has sold his soul, and betrayed our city. On top of that, he has made a new home, in the halls of pain and anguish."

The barbarians in the infirmary all started muttering angrily. "Such sacrilege!" Qual-Kehk boomed out. "Has he no shame, betraying us to the Lord of Destruction? Does he truly think the demon will keep his word?"

"I do not know his thoughts," Anya said. "But I can open a portal for you, to the plateau outside the halls."

Before she could open the portal, Malah stepped forward and took the girl's hands. "No opening portals in here, and not with the shape you're in, girl. Let it wait a day, until you have recovered more of your strength." Nodding, Anya complied, sinking back into the cot.

Disenchanted, the heroes trooped back into the cold, bright winter morning of Harrogath. Garou sighed, sitting down on the stone wall. "Just wonderful," he muttered, "Baal has free passage to the Worldstone, and we still haven't caught up with him. To top it off, we have to make a detour."

Ron Bars growled at him. "Would you allow a traitor such as Nihlathak to live, with the damage he has already done to the city?" Erris put a hand on his arm, hoping to calm the angry barbarian.

Garou shook his head. "No, I would not. But shouldn't we be chasing Baal first? Nihlathak may be a traitor and apparently a powerful mage, but without his demonic master, how much danger will he be?"

"You don't understand," Ron Bars growled back, shaking off Erris' hand. "The halls of pain and anguish are catacombs, where the people of my tribes bury the honorable dead. Under Baal's tutelage, I have no doubts that will desecrate the graves, raising them all as undead, and bring it against the city. This time, there will be no agreement to stop him from burning it to the ground."

Rupert stepped between the two of them. "All right, we understand. Let's not start fighting again, because this time we might break free of Baal's spell." He looked sternly between the two. "But for right now, let's get back to the icy tunnels. We have to wait on Anya to reach the halls, and we must catch up to Baal."

Grimly, they hefted their weapons, returning through the portal to the ice cave, wending back along the icy river and up into the tunnels again.

They spent hours wandering through the icy tunnels, more than once wondering if they were walking around in circles. But finally, they found the last staircase, and emerged from a cave onto another plateau, far higher on the mountain. The few trees here were stunted pine trees, bent by the constant winds and buried in snow.

Ron Bars peered out into the whirling snowfall. "It's only midafternoon," he shouted over the storm. "Should we try going out across the plateau, towards the last set of tunnels, or go back to town now?"

Rupert pulled everyone away from the entrance, out of the wind. "Is the wind always this fierce up here?" Both barbarians nodded, and Ahnold gave an exaggerated shiver. "Fine, then let's return to Harrogath. We need better, warmer gear before we try to cross this plateau."

Jezebel handed a scroll to Tharos. As he read off the portal, Erris asked her, "Why don't you open it as usual?"

The sorceress grimaced. "Any person can only have one such portal open. If we go to these halls, and need to return, this portal won't close. I don't think everyone wanted to hike back up the mountain."

With a chuckle, they returned to Harrogath, returning to the infirmary. To their relief, Anya was looking much better, sitting up and eating a bowl of stew. She smiled a little as the heroes trooped in past Malah's steely gaze. "Again, all of you have my thanks for my rescue from the ice," she said, her voice soft. "Even if you weren't able to stop Nihlathak from getting the last word, as it were."

With a grimace, she touched the bandage around her side. At the head of the group, Rupert bowed. "It is a good thing you cried out, or we might not have known you were down at the frozen river," he said.

For a moment, she looked puzzled. "I was delirious, but perhaps I did cry out. Regardless, it was lucky for all of us." She sat up a little straighter, holding in a wince. Tomorrow morning, I will open a portal to Nihlathak and the halls in front of my home." Anya gave Ron Bars a wry grin. "You do still remember where that is?"

He sighed, looking sour. "Yes, I do. If I ever forgot, dad would beat the directions into me with a halberd again."

She chuckled again, then winked at Erris. "Don't worry, he's safe with you. Ron's a great friend, but not someone I want to be married to." The amazon blushed a little at the straightforward remark.

Rupert gave another nod to Anya. "Then for now, we should let you rest, and find warmer gear for the upper plateau on Mount Arreat." They all trooped out into the clear, wintry day, heading across the city to find someone to lend them fur cloaks for their next assault on the mountain.

They met again the next morning in the main square. Before they could do more than nod hello, Qual-Kehk came down the steps from the infirmary. "Good day to you," he boomed out. "Malah found this in some old potion recipes, and thought it might be of some use to you."

Jezebel took the offered scroll, glancing down the written runes. "This is incredible!" she said. "A magical spell to give us resistance to magic."

He grunted. "Well, the only thing Malah said, was to make sure everyone read it at the same time." With a nod of farewell, he marched back up to the infirmary. The heroes all gathered around Jezebel, carefully looking over the scroll before they all started chanting.

As the scroll finished, everyone shivered, feeling the tingles of the magic spell running over their skin like ants. When it finished, Ron Bars led them through the city to Anya's house. As he raised a fist to pound on the door, they heard her calling from around the side of the house. "Morning, everyone," she said, her face pale. She leaned a little further out of the unshuttered window.

Rupert gave her a small salute with his scepter. "Good morning, Anya. Shall we set forth after Nihlathak right away?"

She chuckled dryly. "In a moment. Malah made me promise not to leave the house, so I'll open the portal right here." She took a deep breath, and winked at Ron Bars. "Remind you of sneaking in when we were courting?"

Erris scowled, turning on the barbarian. "You used to sneak into her room?"

Looking annoyed, he glared at Anya. "No, because our parents basically forced us to court, we would meet in front of her house, get out of sight of her father, then sneak Anya back into her room and I'd go drink a mug or two of mead with some of the other fighters."

Erris blushed as Anya laughed. Steadying herself with another deep breath, she leaned a little further out of the window, speaking a few magical words. A reddish portal sprang into being beneath the window, and Anya slumped back in exhaustion. "Go get the traitor, bring back his head so we can mount it on the gates," she said. "I'm going back to bed before Malah shows up to yell at me."

Carefully she retreated, closing the shutters. Ron Bars and Ahnold shared a grim look, before stepping through the portal.

They emerged on a windy, very small plateau. Dead bodies, still outfitted with giant swords and barbarian armor, lay scattered around the entrance. "Someone knew he was here," Tharos murmured, stepping over to examine one of the picked-clean skeletons. A rat, nibbling on what was left on one skeleton, scurried away in fear.

Huddling together against the wind, they started towards the entrance. Halfway there, Tharos stopped suddenly, raising his wand. The iron golem clunked forward, shattering one of the skeletons, even as the others rose up all about them. "It's a trap!" he cried, aiming his wand and loosing a bone spear at a group of skeletons.

They struck back savagely, cleaving apart the skeletons and throwing them backwards. But even as they would kill one, another had pulled itself together again and returned to its state of undeath. Shattered bones slowly reformed, and the skeletons picked up their fallen weapons.

Finally, Garou surged forward, grabbing a skull in each paw. With a roar, the druid smashed them together, throwing the fragments over the side of the cliff. The others followed his example, driving back the skeletons that kept rising, until they could throw them over the cliff, to shatter on the rocks below.

Catching their breath, they gazed about at the few shattered bone pieces left, scattered about the small plateau. "This is going to be a long, hard battle," Rupert muttered.

Somewhere in the first set of halls, the heroes stood in a circle. As the skeleton started to rise again, Ahnold's sword shattered it in half again. "Forty-seven!" Garou cried out, and they waited. After another minute, when the skeleton had failed to rise, there were groans from around the circle. "And the winner with the closest guess of fifty-nine, Erris wins the pot."

He handed over the stack of gold coins. Erris pocketed them, grinning, and they turned to go down the steps to the next level. "You know," Rupert said, frowning, "I can't help feeling like we shouldn't be betting on how many times these undead will rise. There were, after all, your people, Ron."

The barbarian chuckled, burying axes into another minotaur, throwing the corpse backward into a pair of skeletons. "Their souls are in heaven, waiting for the day they will spill into Hell to enact vengeance on Baal and his minions." He ducked another roaring charge, removing both skeletal arms before crushing the skull under his boot. "No, we are angry because this is supposed to be a place of mourning, and Nihlathak has corrupted it."

Ahnold nodded agreement, his eyes glowing red with bloodlust. "He will be termahnated," he boomed out, dropping his sword through a skeleton. Exploring the winding lines of tunnels, they stopped around another skeleton, counting each time another weapon smashed it back to the stone. This time, Tharos won the pot, counting out his winnings as his golem ground the last skeleton into dust.

Another two levels down, Ron Bars stopped the group. "We're getting close," he said quietly. "This is the lowest level I know of. If Nihlathak is here in these halls, he'll be in one of the main chambers."

They cautiously gazed down the four passageways, before Rupert finally picked one at random. They moved as quietly as possible, and stopped in awe when they came to the wide, open hall. The two barbarians kept moving for a moment, before stopping to look back at their companions.

This hall was painted along every wall and column, frescos of wolves and barbarian hunters. In many of them, the two groups were mixed in, some drawings even appearing as both wolf and man from different angle. Garou smiled, trailing a finger along one. Even Dogmeat seemed to recognize the pictures, wagging his scruffy tail.

"This is the hall for the Shadow Wolf tribe," Ron Bars said quietly. "One hall for each of the major tribes. This is where mourning ceremonies take place." He fell silent, looking up at the carved and painted ceiling, a tear rolling down his cheek.

With sudden fury, Ron Bars gripped both his axes, stalking to the back of the room and into the preparation chamber. Winged harpies sprang into the air, urging demons forward with their screeching. Shaking the mountain with his war cry, Ron Bars sprang forward into the horde, axes bringing a tornado of death even as his friends rushed to his support.

When the bodies had all fallen, Ron Bars looked around the room. Here, the demons had taken pain to scratch away paint, chip at the rock, and do what they could to befoul the cave. The barbarians were both crying tears of rage, and turned without a word. "We search every cave," Ron Bars growled.

The others did not argue, sharing some of the barbarian's pain, seeing the ruin of such a beautiful and historical place.

They turned right, walking down the painted corridor below pictures of graceful cranes and other birds. This time, the demons were waiting for them in the main hall. Harpies screeched, hurling curses at the group while the piggish demons threw themselves forward in an orgy of self-destruction.

Ahnold was at the head this time, with Ron Bars on one side, and the golem on the other. The two barbarians kept up a chanting song in their native tongue, hurling back broken and crumpled bodies. An arrow flew through the air, nailing a harpy to the stone wall like some obscene butterfly.

The preparation room for the Crane tribe was empty this time, but marks of the demons' residence was plentiful. One corner, which had been filled with jars of herbs and anointing oils, had been turned into a latrine, befouling everything.

Without stopping, the barbarians turned around, stalking to the Snake hallway. Again, the demons met and fell under the heroic assault, the exquisite painting shimmering in torchlight before being bathed in demon blood.

As they stepped into the preparation room here, a flock of harpies dropped from the ceiling of the room, dive bombing and slashing wickedly with sharp claws. Ahnold fell to the floor, one side of his head bleeding viciously. Another harpy crashed into the golem, flopped about in vain as she bled to death.

Once these demons were dead as well, Ahnold stood up unsteadily. Despite the amount of blood, his scalp wound seemed superficial. Waving away a healing potion, he led the way to the last of the four halls. For Nihlathak surely waited in the halls of his own tribe – the Bear.

They stepped into the main hallway, looking at the painted walls in distraction, their footsteps echoing ominously as they moved to the back. Just before they could turn the corner for the preparation room, Tharos suddenly shouted, "Stop! Don't go in there!"

His face was even more deathly pale than usual, and they followed his gestures to slowly back away. From inside came Nihlathak's mocking laughter. "What is it, Tharos," Ron Bars muttered angrily through clenched teeth."

"Remember the exploding midget skeletons in Kurast?" They all nodded, a little puzzled. "Some necromancers can do that to any corpse – enchant it to detonate like that."

Erris frowned, running her fingers up and down the string of her bow. "So what?"

"The whole chamber is knee-deep in corpses, all enchanted like that." The laughter echoed through the hall again. "The moment we set foot in there, we're all dead. Nihlathak knows his life is over, and is just determined to take us with him."

With expressions altering between fury and worry, they moved further back in the hall, discussing strategy quietly, listening to Nihlathak's half-maddened songs of praise to Baal. Finally, Oksana stopped planning, walked over to examine the iron golem, statue-like near one wall. "Hey Tharos," she asked quietly, "How indestructible is this thing?"

She carefully tapped the golem's arm with her cestus. The others all turned to watch her while Tharos thought. "Well, it's solid iron, and enchanted to boot. What did you have in mind?"

She held up a handful of firebombs. "They explode on contact, right?" The others started to smile as they glimpsed her plan.

With an armful of firebombs and lightning traps, the golem lumbered into the preparation chamber. Nihlathak's shriek of glee echoed throughout the hall. Then Tharos lowered his wand, and the golem dropped all of the traps.

The resulting explosion threw the group backwards, and everyone lost their breath as they slammed into the stone. Massive cracks raced through the paintings, chips falling away and marring the delicate work of barbarians generations ago. Fighting hard to regain their breath, the heroes struggled back to their feet, grasping for fallen weapons to prepare, just in case Nihlathak had another trick up his sleeve.

But a few moments later, the golem clanked slowly from the preparation room. Spikes had been dented and bent, and a huge chunk of stone was still stuck to one leg. With a collective sigh of relief, everyone lowered their weapons and started forward, to inspect the damage.

Suddenly, Nihlathak lunged forward from the room. Holding in his intestines with his one working arm, the fallen elder was obviously not long for the mortal realm. "A pox on all of you!" he gasped out, spitting blood in his mad fury. "You will never be able to defeat the Lord of Destruction as you are, never! You are already betrayed, and your trust brings your doom. I will see you again, false heroes – I will see you again!"

He started to laugh again, whirling around on his torn and bloody legs. Magic started to whirl out of him, the stolen demonic power flaking away as Nihlathak lost his hold on life. Shadows whirled around him, faster and faster, matching the tempo of his laugh, until they all rose in the shriek of a hurricane.

With a snap, the noise, the shadows, and the body of Nihlathak vanished. Rupert waved his scepter in a gesture of warding. "Angels and ministers of grace, defend us," he whispered.

Feeling as though their victory had been stolen from them, everyone turned back towards the stairs. Everyone except Tharos. For several long moments he stood, staring at where Nihlathak had vanished. Finally, Oksana walked back and put a hand on his shoulder. "Is Nihlathak's threat bothering you?" she asked, worried.

Tharos shook his head, his face the color of ashes. "That wasn't a threat," he whispered. "That was prophecy." He met her eyes, sadness clear in them. "We're all doomed."

Half-heartedly, they traveled back through the catacombs to Anya's portal, reappearing in Harrogath shortly before sundown. Fighting against the harsh winter winds, they moved around to the front of Anya's house. After several minutes of banging against the door, the surprised girl opened it, and the heroes piled inside.

"Nihlathak is dead," Ron Bars said simply. "No body though, something with the demonic magic he had destroyed his body." Anya looked angry, and moved slowly to lead them to the main room of the house.

They sat in chairs and on the floor, Rupert lighting a fire while Anya reclined on the couch. "What happened exactly?"

They took turns describing the halls of the dead, finally finishing with Nihlathak's explosive, and somewhat unsatisfying, end. But Tharos shivered again. "The last thing he said, it was prophecy," he emphasized. "I don't understand it, but we will see Nihlathak again. And something is going to stop us from defeating Baal."

Ahnold laughed, banging a fist against his armored chest. "He is just a demon. If Nihlathak had not betrayed us, the warriors of Harrogath would have finished him already."

Anya shook her head. "Baal has always been the most powerful of the Prime Evils, just as Tyrael has always been the most powerful of the angels. If he really gave Nihlathak that kind of power, there must have been a plan behind it." She chewed on her lip.

Erris shrugged. "Ok, so maybe we won't have an easy time against Baal. But we can't sit back here in Harrogath and just let him win! Even if he is controlling Tal Rasha, we were chosen by somebody to fight this battle."

Emboldened by her words, the heroes shared smiles and other words of encouragement. Anya then snapped her fingers, rising to her feet. "I just remembered something that might help. My father used to keep a collection of weapons used by certain members of the tribes who had passed on in old age. Most of them carry powerful enchantments." She smiled. "If you give me until tomorrow morning, I can even mark them with your names. True weapons for such successful heroes."

With cries of thanks, the heroes went back out into the forceful winds, fighting back to their temporary houses for the night. The next morning, they climbed out of windows to slog through the waist-deep snow, meeting again at Anya's. She opened the door cheerily, recovering well from her wound.

"Here you are," she said, passing out bow, scepter, axe, staff, katar, wand, and a set of metal finger-claws for Garou. "It's not terribly fancy, but I think it should be more than enough." The heroes admired their new weapons, quickly setting aside their old ones in favor. "Good luck getting past the Ancients."

They hiked back to their original town portal, letting the golem clear an easier path through the snow. Some snow had slid through into the tunnels, forming a slippery pile of harder ice in the middle of the passage. Bold and ready to fight, they emerged out on the open plateau. Snowfall here had been thinner, and they could already see demon tracks in the early morning light.

Predatory smiles crossing their faces, the heroes set forth for the summit of the mountain.


	14. The Champions, and Baal

After a long day of slaying demons, the heroes stood inside the last tunnel, looking up the ice-covered staircase at the waning afternoon sun. "This is it," Ron Bars said quietly. "Now we face down three of the greatest warriors of my people."

Side by side, the two barbarians climbed the stairs, blinking as they re-emerged into the sun. The stone platform was small, and surprisingly bare of snow. They could see the actual peak of the mountain, barely a hundred feet above them, and a barred gateway led back down into a different part of the mountain.

Gazing in awe at the three golden statues, they started to move forward. With a grating clang, the stairway behind them was suddenly blocked with barbed iron bars, and Rupert carefully tested them. "There's no way back."

Ahnold shook his head. "The Ancients, you cannot leave without defeating them. This is why the elders always brought along the relic." He looked worried, re-adjusting his helmet. Again they started forward to the statues.

Ron Bars and Ahnold waited at the middle of the stone circle, standing next to the carved pedestal, allowing the others to examine the statues. At last, when everyone had gathered around them, the two barbarians turned to the pedestal. "As soon as we read this, they will come to life." Gripping their weapons anew, they prepared.

The barbarians alternated, reading the carved symbols in the ancient barbarian tongue. When they finished, their voices echoed against the rock for a brief moment. As soon as it fell silent, the three statues roared, and charged. Or, at least, two of them did. Oksana had tied a rope around the legs of the third statue, which had been holding a massive halberd.

The fight was long against the first two, but as they defeated the statues, they simply vanished, to return to solidity where they had stood before. Carefully, they gathered around the third statue, who sat in the snow, fuming with the ropes. Angrily, he looked up at the group. "You do not fight fair."

Garou snorted. "Hey, we're not the ones who let Baal walk past into the Worldstone chamber."

His eyes widened in surprise, then dimmed with shame. "Do you speak the truth, warrior of the trees?" Everyone nodded, and he lowered his head in shame. "Then even the greatest of our peoples could not stop Uileloscadh Mór," he lamented. "The end of the world is upon us!"

Ron Bars shook his head definitively. "There may still be time, honored Korlic. If you will let us through into the Worldstone, perhaps we can stop Baal before he unleashed his plan."

Korlic sprang to his feet, almost overbalancing due to his tied ankles. "Strike me down, warrior of the wolves, and the gate shall be opened! I do not think Baal can be that far ahead of you." He stood proudly, halberd at attention in one hand, smiling as the axe dealt the wicked blow.

As he returned to statue form, both gates opened, ratcheting back into place in the mountain. The heroes raced down, back into the bowels of the mountain.

The passages down to the Worldstone chamber were all carved stone and tile floors, the mosaics simple shapes that seemed to make no sense to the heroes. The passages were all filled with demons, mostly the constant undead and flocks of cursing harpies.

A few floors down, they stopped on the other side of a bridge for a quick breather. Looking at the floor, Rupert grunted. "Those parts almost look like torch holders," he said, pointing to a pair of depressions in the floor.

Jezebel stepped over, and examined the mosaic design. "Yes, they do. I wonder what they're for?"

Garou shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I've seen these things everywhere. In the Sisterhood monastery, the desert of Lut Gholein, the jungles of Kurast, even one on the river of flame in Hell. I think there's one in the middle of Harrogath."

Tharos snapped his fingers. "Hey, I think these are waypoints. I've heard about those."

Erris rubbed the toe of her greaves in one of them. "What are they used for?"

Jezebel nodded too. "Yes, I remember now. If you activate a waypoint, then you can travel there from any other waypoints."

Everyone looked at her in half anger. "Do you mean," Rupert said ominously, "that we could have been using these for transportation, instead of camping out and having to spend hundreds of gold on portal scrolls?"

She looked embarrassed. "Well, yeah. They were barely mentioned by my mentor."

Ron Bars smacked his forehead with a hand. "Let's forget it, and keep going after Baal."

Feeling frustrated, the heroes trudged back into the maze of corridors, looking for the next staircase down.

They emerged on the bottom floor, red stone all around them remarkably unmarked. The two barbarians led the way to a great hall, where Baal waited at the far end, sitting on a pedestal in front of a carved archway. "So, mortals, you managed to get this far. I have a little … entertainment for you."

With a wave of his arm, shimmering lights danced in the middle of the hall, and a dozen Fallen shamans appeared. In less than a minute, all of them lay dead. Rupert tapped his scepter against the floor to clean the blood off. "That's it?"

With a roar, Baal summoned another group, this one of mummies. Again, the heroes smashed through their adversaries like paper. The third and fourth waves were just as easily dealt with. As the heroes started forward again, Baal grinned. "Lister!" the great demon shouted.

From the other passageways outside the hall came a great pounding of feet. A half dozen demons, looking like giant, corrupted lizards, came strutting into the hallway. The lead one raised his head into the air, sniffing, before orienting towards the heroes. Tharos muttered a curse, stepping behind his golem.

All of the lizards roared, shaking the entire hall, before charging. All of the heroes, except Ahnold, scattered. The barbarian grounded his feet, holding up his great sword like a lance. Lister swerved to avoid him, but one of the others lunged at the barbarian, mouth open wide to swallow him. It got the sword first, the blade breaking out the back of the lizard's skull.

But the death throes of the demon chewed the barbarian in half, and Lister's minions circled around him to face the heroes, at the other end of the hall. Oksana and Erris worked furiously at something, while Tharos' skeletons fired ineffective shots of flame at the lizards.

With another roar, they charged again. The golem stayed in place, getting kicked by a lizard and sticking in place, shredding the demon's foot. Erris fired two arrows at the last moment, sticking them into different demons. The heroes scattered again, racing back around to the other side of the hall.

At Oksana's urging, they moved towards the corner, leaving one of the pillars between them and Lister's demons. They spread out, and waited for the demons to charge. "This time," she urged, "aim for their legs. Bring them down, and we can kill them more easily."

Roaring again, they charged. As two demons passed on either side of the first pillar, they squawked in outrage. The two arrows had been tied with a rope, and they whipped around the pillar, crashing into each other. A third demon, with the iron golem still wrapped around its leg, tripped over them, slamming into the floor.

Lister and one minion continued the charge. Ron Bars gave a warcry, charging towards the demon as well. At the last moment, he dropped to the floor, sliding past the demon and letting go of his axes. Both of them thudded into Lister's knee as the barbarian went right under his foot.

Garou leaped upon Lister as he fell to the ground, raking open his neck with his new iron claws. Dogmeat snarled, charging in to nip at his flanks. The other minion pulled up short, sprouting a dozen arrows in his chest. As the other demons tried to escape their rope, fire walls popped into place around them.

Before too long, the demons had all fallen. Garou stood back, looking at Lister's horned head. "Once we kill Baal, I'm having that thing stuffed and mounted." Ron Bars chuckled, tearing his axes free of the demon's leg.

"Look, Baal's gone!" Rupert said, pointing with his scepter. Sure enough, the Lord of Destruction had taken the opportunity to duck back into the Worldstone chamber. "Quickly, we can't give him any more time!"

Grimly, they charged up onto the platform, ducking through the archway into the Worldstone chamber for the final confrontation.

They emerged on the side of the Worldstone chamber. Baal stood in the center, on an outcrop of rock, facing the giant, glowing, Worldstone. The seven warriors spread out, Dogmeat and the golem on either end. "Well, you are tougher than I gave you credit for," Baal said, his voice echoing strangely around the room.

In the center of the group, Ron Bars stepped forward. "It's time for you to go back to hell, Baal!"

The demon started laughing, quietly at first, until the entire chamber shook with the sound of his voice. "Silly, pathetic mortal. Weren't you listening to what Nihlathak told you? You've already been betrayed!"

Ron Bars opened his mouth to speak, when he was suddenly struck from behind. With a shout of surprise, he tumbled over the side of the walkway. One axe, his name carved into the handle, went spinning through the air to land harmlessly at Baal's feet. The others all turned in anger, to see Anya slowly retreating, smirking.

"Surely you didn't think I would pass up this opportunity for true power?" she said, before suddenly portalling out. Baal laughed, leaping over the chasm to attack them.

The heroes fought valiantly, but they died one by one. First Jezebel was grabbed by Baal, tearing her head off. Erris was entangled with tentacles, helpless as Baal froze her into an ice statue. Rupert was struck, flying across the room to hit a column, head first. Oksana died in a fireball, as it detonated all of her traps at once.

Tharos stood at the back of the room, biting his lip in pain as he held his wand with a burned hand. He could actually see the bones through the back of his hand, but he still controlled his golem, fighting to hold Baal still as Garou tore into the demon. Dogmeat yelped briefly, before being crushed underfoot. Garou howled in anger, ripping a furrow along the side of Baal's face.

Suddenly, Tharos felt a sharp stab of pain in his side. Gasping, he fell back against the wall, and turned his head to see Anya standing there. She twisted the demon-hilted dagger, before pulling it out and wiping the blood on his shirt. "Nothing personal," she said, mockingly.

He fell back against the wall. With his control over the golem slipping, Baal grabbed the druid, ripping him in half.

Triumphant, Baal stood on the same platform, looking over the broken, bloody bodies of the heroes. "Well, now that this little part has been taken care of," he said smiling. Anya smiled as well, walking towards her new master. To her surprise, Baal grabbed her, talons shredding her abdomen apart. "I have no more use for you, and better things to do than control your mind." The life faded from her eyes before he tossed her corpse into the chasm again.

Baal gave another great laugh, surveying the room one last time. The axe blade suddenly slammed into the back of his head, embedding itself up to the handle. Baal jerked in pain, his legs collapsing. Ron Bars grunted, pulling himself up from the edge of the chasm.

He looked around the room in grief, slowly striding over to the fallen body, changing back to the human corpse of Tal Rasha. Grasping the handle of his unlabeled weapon, he yanked, tearing the entire head free. He slammed the axe against the stone floor, splattering blood and flesh everywhere.

Ron Bars turned, looking in grief at the Worldstone. Pulsing against the redness was a spot of blackness, where Baal had already started corrupting the Worldstone. He looked down at his axe, then back at the Worldstone.

With a roar, he launched himself across the chasm towards the Worldstone. As he brought the weapon down, he heard Tyrael behind him shout, "No!"

Then the axe struck the magical rock. There was a bright flash, and the world disappeared.


	15. Nightmare Mode, Act 1 and 2

Tharos gasped in pain, backpedaling furiously and blocking with his shield. He muttered something obscene under his breath, and swung the cutlass he had picked up, skipping it off the zombie's head. It moaned, and swung again, connecting against his gothic shield with a muffled clang. With another swing, the zombie's face caved in, and the monster fell to the ground.

He stood silently for a moment, looking around the dim cave. The ring of light he had found earlier lit the gloom only slightly, but nothing moved. After another moment, Tharos waved his hand, muttering the arcane sigil. The fallen zombie twitched, then the bones ripped free, climbing over each other. The skeleton stood there, swaying slightly, bony hands glowing with magical fire.

Tharos smiled, and turned to head deeper into the cave. But with a crackling explosion, his skeleton warrior collapsed, as an arrow flew out of the darkness. The iron golem caught the skull, the arrow still sticking out of an eye socket.

Tharos stepped around the corner of the wall. "What the hell did you do that for?"

Erris grabbed another arrow from her quiver, placing it against the string. "Prepare to die, foul necromancer!"

He snorted. "Don't be ridiculous, Erris." Both of them suddenly stopped, staring at each other in confusion. "How do I know your name?" he asked, warily pointing the cutlass at her.

She slowly lowered the bow. "I don't know. But you look familiar somehow." They stepped forward, and extended empty hands.

When their fingers touched, they both felt like a lightning bolt had gone through them. Both of them suddenly remembered everything, from their first meeting in this cave, to their deaths at Baal's hands. "What the hell happened to us?" Erris asked, whispering in fear.

Suddenly, from another part of the cave, they heard a shout of half-surprise, half-shock. "Rupert!" they said in unison, turning to race through the cave.

They reunited with the others, heading back to the cave entrance, talking quietly about what had happened - and their own deaths. Outside the cave, Ron Bars came striding up. As he opened his mouth, Erris lunged forward, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him. Oksana pouted. "Why couldn't I have remembered everything that way?"

Rupert snickered, and waited for their kiss to stop. "So, what happened? Ron, did you die when you hit the bottom?"

The barbarian sat down on the ground, his legs suddenly shaky. "No, I caused this," he said. The others looked at him in confusion. "I didn't fall, I caught myself on the rocks partway down. I managed to climb back up, in time to see Baal kill Anya, and the rest of you dead. I buried my axe in the back of his head."

He stopped, staring at the axe, the same one. "Baal had already started to corrupt the Worldstone, so I leaped at it with my axe. When it hit, everything went black, and I was back in the rogue encampment, talking with Akara."

Everyone stood there, digesting his words. Finally, Rupert offered a hand to Ron Bars. "Everything seems to have reset. Except we still have all of our abilities, and the monsters are tougher somehow." He shrugged. "We need to get Cain rescued, and ask him what the hell is going on."

In agreement, the others turned, and followed Rupert deeper into the hills.

In Tristram, the group boldly stepped into the center of the village, dropping Cain's cage to the ground and pulling the unconscious sage out of the cage. Griswold stepped out from behind a burned out building, demons forming up at his back. Oksana stepped forward, laughing mockingly at the possessed blacksmith. "I suggest you run, fat man," she taunted him.

Moaning, he started forward, demons rushing around him. Guarding Cain behind them, they met the rush of demons confidently, throwing back broken demon corpses. Griswold stopped as a pair of arrows slammed into his chest. Moaning again, this time in dismay, he backed away, lumbering off around a building and out of sight.

Cain looked at the group in shock. "Who are you … you…"

Rupert snickered. "I think the word you used last time was 'misfits,' Cain."

Narrowing his eyes, Cain studied the paladin. "Who are you? Where have we met before?"

Erris clapped him on the back. "Come on, old man, back to the rogue encampment. We've got a lot to talk about."

As they headed back towards the cairn stone portal, Garou shook his head. "I still say the old bugger sounds like Sean Connery." Jezebel laughed, linking her arm through his, and tripping Rupert with her staff.

Sitting around the fire in the rogue encampment, Cain shook his head. "This all sounds very peculiar. Are you sure?"

Rupert sighed and nodded. "Yes, we're sure. We all remember it. Vividly." He shuddered, remembering the column rushing up to fill his vision. "So what caused this? Ron hitting the Worldstone with an axe?" The barbarian held up the axe in question.

The old sage grunted irritably. "I have no idea what happened, or why it all seems this way to you, but no one else." He sighed. "Nevertheless, if everything is as you say, then Tyrael will be waiting for you in Tal Rasha's tomb. Perhaps you should ask him then."

Oksana smiled. "Well, I'm sure we can do better this time around fighting all of the big baddies. I guess we should sleep for the night then, right?"

Cain groaned, far louder this time, looking towards the starry heavens. "With the noise all of you make, it's a wonder any of us can sleep around here!" Laughing, and blushing, the heroes split up for the night.

They gathered in the anteroom to Andariel's chamber. Rupert started towards the door, before realizing that no one else was following him. Turning around, he saw the rest of the group gathered by the wall, leaning back and relaxing. He furrowed his brows. "Well?"

Erris shrugged. "Well, you did such a good job last time, we figured we could learn a few things from watching you."

Rupert slowly turned angry. "You think this is all a big joke? Do you have any idea what it took out of me last time?"

"Well, no. We were actually kind of hoping that you would tell us," Garou said. "All you said was something about it being dishonorable. But if it's something that powerful to kill demons, shouldn't we know about it?"

Turning bright red, Rupert started shouting at them. "It's not that important! Nor is it anything that the rest of you could -" He cut off, as the double doors behind him opened, and Andariel stepped into the room. Sighting the heroes, she strode forward.

For the second time, she stepped right into the pool of blood-tinted water. Acting instinctively, Rupert whirled around, dropping his scepter at the edge of the pool as he blessed it, turning it into holy water. The demoness screamed as the holy water started boiling her skin away.

Everyone slowly gathered around the pool as Andariel slipped from sight. "Whoa," Erris said. "What did you do?"

Still looking angry and embarrassed, Rupert straightened up, putting his scepter back into his belt. "I blessed the water," he muttered.

They stared into the now crystal clear water. "If you could do that, why didn't you do it a little more often?" Garou asked.

"It only works on small pools of water. Otherwise half the water in Kurast would be holy." Rupert shook his head, and turned back towards the stairs. "Come on, let's catch the waypoint."

As they started out of the room, Griswold came lumbering in, moaning in anger. They stopped, looked at him, then sniffed in dismissal, continuing towards the stairs. The blacksmith stood there for a few moments, scratching his head in confusion, before moaning curiously, and lumbering back into the hall.

As they trekked back to the waypoint, Erris frowned. "What would happen if we killed him now? Who would be guarding the Hellforge?"

Rupert shrugged. "No idea. But I'd rather we don't find out. Let's hurry up to Lut Gholein and rescue Tyrael."

Garou and Ron bars clapped each other on the back. "First stop - keg party!" Everyone else groaned.

They stood on the steps of the palace, arguing with the guard. "You may not enter the palace," he said for around the hundredth time.

Garou groaned, leaning his head against the wall. "Let's just give it up, guys. This guy doesn't seem to have a mind of his own." Grumbling, they headed down the stairs for the dockside entrance to the sewers. "But how the heck are we supposed to circumvent Diablo if we can't reach the tombs before him?"

Rupert shrugged. "I have no idea. We can probably save a day or so, using the waypoints. We still have to construct that staff, anyway."

Erris nodded. "Still, it bothers me. Isn't there any way we can change the events?"

"But we already have," Jezebel argued. "I mean, look at us, the way we fought and rescued the Sisterhood monastery."

"No, I mean," Erris said crossly, "can't we change the order of events? Isn't there some way we can avoid all this to prevent Diablo from freeing Baal? Or skip our side trip to Hell to save the Worldstone?"

Everyone was silent as they climbed down the rickety stairs and entered the sewers. "We'll see what we can do," Rupert said. "But for now, let's hit the bottom, burn Radament, and race into the desert to get this staff assembled."

Feeling annoyed at their predicament, the others followed.

Two days later, they struck down the Summoner. Catching a quick breath, they were about to step through to the valley of tombs, when Garou suddenly stopped. "Hold on a moment. What was the symbol for Tal Rasha's tomb, last time?"

Everyone stopped and thought. "A plain circle, I believe. What difference does it make?" Rupert asked.

Garou pointed at the six glowing symbols. "Those are different. See, there's the circle. And I'm pretty sure they're in a different order." Everyone else examined the glowing symbols as well, trying to compare the distant memory. "This time, it's a square."

"What difference does it make?" Erris asked irritably. "Square, circle, funny star shape - we can still find the tomb, can't we?"

"Yes, but last time, we spent three days running around that stupid valley, looking for the tomb." Oksana grumbled. "How are we supposed to get any closer to Diablo if we spend the same amount of time running around?"

Tharos stepped between the two. "I think I've got an idea. We can handle those cat monsters pretty easily. Not only that, I think the portal dumps us on top of a waypoint. So, we make a quick run back to town, grab a whole bunch of portal scrolls, and split into two groups. Whenever we reach a tomb, portal back to town and check in. That way, we should only spend one day looking for the tomb, travelling each way."

After a little negotiation for teams, they all stepped through the invisible portal into the valley of the tombs. Instantly, they were buffeted by the sandstorm, fighting to activate the waypoint and escape back to the safety of Lut Gholein.

Once the storm had calmed down, they came back on the waypoint. The stone platform had been uncovered by the storm, and they carefully climbed down the side. "All right," Rupert said, "Tharos, Garou, Kenny, and I go that way," he pointed, "and the four of you travel the other way. As soon as you reach a tomb, portal back, and meet at Atma's. Hopefully, we can get to the right tomb quickly."

Sighing, they split up, fighting their way across the loose sand dunes. The sun was bright in the morning, leaving shimmers of heat over the floor of the canyon. Everyone traveled in the shade where they could, avoiding the blistering sun and heat of the desert.

To Oksana's surprise, the first tomb they entered was the correct one. "Look," she pointed, "here's the square symbol already!" Jezebel fumbled out a scroll, and went back to town. "We should wait here, just in case," she said, and Erris and Ron Bars grumpily sat down in the cooler shade of the tomb entrance.

An hour later, the others all came trooping through the portal. Letting Kenny lead the way, they went back down into the tomb. "Things look different," Garou said, frowning. "Wasn't the first chamber a little bigger?"

Erris looked around and shrugged. "So what? Does it matter?"

Tharos shook his head, while the golem tried to peel off pieces of saber cat. "If the floor plan of the tomb has changed, it will take us longer to find the right room."

"Then let's get moving," Ron Bars said, twirling his axes as he pushed open another stone door. "The sooner we face down Duriel and ask Tyrael what has happened to us, the better."

The found the room with the stand fairly quickly, and prepared for battle. Before Rupert could put the staff into the orifice, Oksana stopped him. "Does anyone have any rope?"

"What do you need rope for?" Garou asked, sharpening his claws.

"Well, last time, as soon as the wall opened, Duriel came charging out. I was just thinking about tripping him." She shrugged.

Ron Bars snorted. "Since you forgot, Duriel has the body of a giant bug. I don't think you can trip him quite the same way." He stopped then, looking at Kenny. "But I think I have an idea."

They spent the next hour scrounging through the tomb, picking up numerous fallen weapons from the undead and saber cats, and it took the barbarian some effort to prepare them. But when they were done, they had the equivalent of a giant slingshot stretching across the room. Erris panted, wiping sweat from her forehead. "Ok, now what do we do with this?"

Ron Bars grabbed the orange-dressed mercenary, strapping him into the ropes and pulling them taut. "Open the wall!" Rupert carefully placed the staff in place and quickly stepped out of the way.

As before, a bright light shot from the staff, playing along the wall, and the stones collapsed. With a roar, Duriel appeared at the opening, and Ron Bars let go. Kenny wailed as he shot across the room, his spear impaling the demon moments before they squished together.

That strike hadn't killed Duriel, but with the grievous wound, it only took a few blows to kill him. Then Jezebel leaned on her staff, tapping her foot impatiently. "Does your great plan answer how to get past the giant corpse to free Tyrael?" With great irritation, the others gathered around to help drag the demonic body out of the way.

Finally, there was enough room for them to squeeze past, and they gladly filed into the tomb. With a globe of magelight and two fiery skeletons, they walked quickly to the great cavern, where Tyrael stood, chained to the massive column. "Well, let's get him down quickly," Rupert said, and the angel looked up.

"Who are you?" he asked, looking at the group in bewilderment. "How did you arrive here so fast?"

Garou shrugged, fighting with the chain binding Tyrael's feet. "Why, how much of a lead do Diablo and Baal have on us?"

The chains suddenly fell away, and Tyrael leaped into the air, hovering and watching them with narrowed eyes. "How do you know of Diablo and Baal?"

Rupert snickered. "You told us, when we freed you the last time. Before killing Mephisto and smashing his Soulstone in Hell."

Tyrael alighted on the edge of the bridge. "How do know all this? And more importantly, why should I believe any of it?"

Erris shrugged. "We could tell you about Izual. Or that Baal's plan is to corrupt the Worldstone."

Silence ruled the cavern for several seconds as Tyrael digested their words. "If you speak the truth, how do you have this knowledge about the future?"

Ron Bars raised an axe. "I killed Baal, then hit the Worldstone where he had corrupted it." He gave a twirl before dropping the axe back on his belt.

"I shall have to think about this." He waved a hand, and a portal appeared. "Return to Lut Gholein, and travel as quickly as possible to Kurast. I must gather more information in Heaven."

"But, can't you just portal us there?" Jezebel's question fell on emptiness, as the angel vanished. "Oh, drat," she muttered unhappily, stomping her staff onto Rupert's foot.

Stifling a curse, the paladin limped to the portal. "Come on, let's just get moving." A little disappointed, the others trooped back to the city behind him.

In the empty darkness behind them, a pair of glowing eyes blinked, then vanished in a quick puff of flames.


	16. Nightmare Mode, Act 3 and 4

Before Meshif's boat could even be tied to the rickety pier at the Kurast docks, all of the heroes had jumped off. Dogmeat whined happily as he trotted along the docks, and they brushed past Hratli, heading for the edge of the forest. "Remember, last time we got here, there was that strange guy in the dark cloak," Rupert warned. "I think he's got something to do with Diablo, so let's bring him down."

On the edge of the jungle, they could just see the shadowy figure vanishing into the mists. With a roar, they charged into the jungle after him, firing arrows and spells. The wanderer roared as an arrow struck him in the shoulder, whirling around. Red light blazed from beneath the cowl of his robe, and the heroes slowed, feeling terror shimmering forth.

The wanderer raised his arm, and a torrent of fire shot forth. Erris dropped to the ground, snapping off an arrow, and the others scattered. To their surprise, Dogmeat lunged forward, grabbing the man's cloak and ripping it away. As the cloak fell, the man uttered the words of a spell, and vanished from sight.

Tharos picked himself up out of the mud. "Whoever that guy is, I think it's safe to say there's something very closely related between him and Diablo. That's almost the same magical attack the demon used on us."

Jezebel stared out into the jungle where he had vanished. "No, that was Diablo. That red light was from the Soulstone – it was jammed into his forehead."

Erris shivered. "But if Diablo is here already … where's Baal?"

No one had any good answers, and they spent a few moments shaking away the vestiges of Diablo's terror. Hefting weapons, they then turned, and journeyed into the jungle again.

Rupert handed the Ghidbinn to Ormus rather solemnly. The priest took the dagger, again placing it above the stone platform and strengthening the magical shields around the docks. They watched the sparks shoot out, clearing the mists away in a rush. Jezebel sighed. "Wow, that's just as beautiful the second time around."

Garou chuckled, kissing her cheek as they walked back to the warehouse. "It is a wonderful sight, that's for sure." As they ducked inside, he waved to Asheara. "If you give us a mercenary, make sure it's not Jelani."

The mercenary in question popped his head up from behind a pile of boxes, looking affronted. "Just what do you have against me?" he asked angrily.

"It's nothing personal," Rupert said. "It's just that you'll probably end up dead." Then he suddenly snapped his fingers, pointing. "Wait, now I know what Ormus' strange friend was talking about last time!"

The others looked at him strangely. "Rupert, what are you babbling about?" Erris asked, unstringing her bow.

He jumped forward, fingering Jelani's tunic. "He said not to go out wearing a red shirt, that's what. He said that wearing a red shirt was a death sentence!" Rupert then stopped, frowning. "Although it doesn't make any sense to me."

Oksana groaned, putting a hand over her eyes. "Rupert, can we forget the metaphysical implications of wearing bright colors in a battle zone, and get some sleep?"

Inside the Durance of Hate, a now green-decked Jelani stopped by the last staircase. "Are you sure this is it?"

Oksana nodded. "Yep. Down here, there's a short antechamber, filled with the last few members of the Council, and then a big room, with a pool of blood and bones in the middle." With the tip of her quhab, she sketched it on the wall. "Griswold was here, though he didn't seem up for fighting."

Garou nodded, idly scratching his muzzle. "So, do we go in en masse, or allow Oksana to take all the risk again?" He stuck his tongue out playfully, and got a light slap on the arm from Jezebel.

Ron Bars snorted. "What, and let her have all the fun?" He took a moment to dry the sweat and blood from his arms, then took up his axes again. "What are you guys waiting for?" Without waiting for an answer, he bounded down the stairs.

Sighing, the others started after him. Rupert fingered the weapon that Ormus had given to him, and followed last in the group. The small group of Council members were dispatched quickly, and they turned towards the main entrance. Just as Oksana had stated, Griswold and Mephisto were standing on the great bone bridge, weapons at the ready.

Bringing the weapon to his shoulder like a crossbow, Rupert pulled on the trigger. A beam of brilliant ruby light shot forth, splashing onto Mephisto's chest. Somewhat in surprise, the demon slowly slumped to the floor, his eyes glazing over as he fell unconscious. Griswold stared back and forth between Rupert and the fallen demon, then lurched into the portal with a moan of fear.

Slowly, they circled the pool and came upon the stunned Mephisto. "What the heck is that thing, Rupert?" Erris asked, her voice full of awe.

"I'm not sure exactly. But I do remember, after we killed Mephisto, the person he had controlled looked similar to me." He shrugged, putting the weapon back into his pack. "When I mentioned it to Ormus, he gave me this and told me to use it on him." Rupert drew a knife and walked over to Mephisto's head before pausing. "How the heck am I supposed to get the Soulstone out of his head without killing him?

Everyone else gathered around too, and after a little bit of debate, they started to cut the demon's forehead open. Blood flowed freely, but soon they could see the glimmer of the Soulstone. "Hold the edges back, I think I can pull it out," Oksana grunted, trying to force her fingers into the wound.

Suddenly, Mephisto awoke with a roar, throwing everyone off except Garou, who was stuck riding his back like a horse. As the others tried to recover and grab for their weapons, the druid drove his claws into the demon's forehead, tearing the wound wider and yanking out the shimmering Soulstone.

With a scream that shook the entire cavern, Mephisto reared back, casting the druid away. Then the demon collapsed, his body rapidly shrinking back into human form. To their surprise, despite having the front of his brain exposed, the man was still breathing. "Who are you? What happened to me?"

Rupert managed to get up, and moved over to the man. Despite the grievous wound, their physical similarity was quite impressive. "Don't talk right now. We'll get you to a healer."

He tried to turn his head, gritting his teeth at the pain. "Don't bother, I'm not long for this world. Just, tell Spock, it's all over now." With those last whispered words, his eyes closed, and he slumped back.

Feeling mournful, they stood around the poor man for a moment, before Jezebel turned back towards the portal to Hell. "Well, let's get this over with," she muttered. "Maybe this time we can convince Tyrael to send us to Harrogath first."

They filed through the town portal to retrieve Cain. Back in the cavern, the injured man awoke again, gasping in pain and looking around wildly. "Spock? Bones?" he called softly. From nearby, he heard footsteps, and tried to carefully turn his body. "Good, you're here. Please, get me to sickbay quickly –" The rest of his words were cut off as the imp jabbed a spear through the open front of his skull.

Chittering with pleasure, the demon scooped out a handful of brains, slurping them up and letting the blood drain down its chin. As the first of the heroes returned through the portal, the imp vanished.

* * *

Belial dismissed his messenger. The imp vanished, and the great horned demon rested his chin in his hand as he considered the news. Certainly, there had seemed to be something not right with the order of the world for a few months now, since that strange group of heroes had appeared at the Sisterhood monastery, defeating Andariel in a bare handful of seconds.

With a clawed hand, he pulled down a carved human skull, the top carefully removed. He breathed into the open brainpan, filling it with swirling liquid flames. As the demon chanted, images slowly began to form. He watched their progress, from their first appearance in the camp, and a dark foreboding began to appear in his mind.

Belial listened to their words with each other, with that Horadrim sage, and with Tyrael. At last, the demon nodded, picking up the skull and drinking in the flames. Then for several moments, he sat in the darkness and solitude.

Baal burst in with a cacophony of noise and sound, designed to be impressive. Belial remained unmoved, waiting for the host of his elder brother to disperse. Finally, the two demons remained alone in the darkened chamber, only their glowing eyes visible. "Well?"

Chuckling softly, the Lord of Lies gestured to a chair, fashioned from human souls. "Things could be worse," he rasped into the darkness.

Baal glared, reaching across the stone table. "Do not play games with me now, Belial. The time for us to destroy humanity is almost upon us!"

With a stretch, Belial popped his neck. "It is approaching, and it has already passed. These heroes have already defeated you once."

"What madness is this?" Baal rose from his seat, pacing angrily about the table. "I'll have no lies from you now, brother. The chance to destroy humanity, and gain a permanent advantage over the angels, is too valuable to waste on petty arguments between ourselves!"

"I do not speak madness, Baal." He crossed his hands behind his head, leaning back comfortably. "If you do not believe me, listen to their own words."

In the darkness, Baal listened to Ron Bars tale of shattering the Worldstone. Eyes narrowing, he sat back down. "Can this be true?"

"I think so, yes," he whispered. "Look at even the monsters in those areas – do the Fallen normally require a barbarian warrior with a great axe to work up a sweat massacring them? Something has changed, and everything they touch is somehow involved."

"So you mean they know of my plan already," he growled. "I almost had them defeated, and yet they won. How am I supposed to conquer a foe who knows my own moves before I make them?"

With a low chuckle, Belial stripped a line of flesh from his chair, chewing on it. "They do not know what you will do, brother. They think they know what you will do."

Baal snorted. "Scant difference there, as you well know."

"Not so. Continue with your plans against the Worldstone as planned. But consider changing some of the details. Think of how you would have conducted your campaign if those seven had not interfered, and think of ways you could trap them when they expect your original plans."

In a more cheerful mood, Baal rose and strode for the exit. "Brother, do not forget one thing," Belial rasped, pausing him at the doorway. "It was my plan that gave you this opportunity, it was my work that freed Diablo, Mephisto and yourself, and it was my spies that prevented you from being defeated by Tyrael before your assault on Mount Arreat could be started. I want my due."

Baal smirked back at the other demon. "And just what do you see as your due, Belial, Lord of Lies?"

He was not amused. Using Baal's own voice, he spoke into the cavern. "Once my plan is complete, with the magic of the mortal realm at our command, there will be no need for a Lord of Terror as one of the Prime Evils. You could take his place, you know." Returning to his normal rasp, Belial continued. "You promised me his place, and I will take it for my own."

Suddenly angry, Baal strode forward, fire and cold magics crackling at his fingertips. "And what if I refuse to grant it to you?"

Very calmly, Belial smiled. "Would you like to spend another few centuries bound to a stone, buried under the desert sands? Or perhaps this time, Tyrael will bind you in amber and sink you at the bottom of the ocean."

They squared off, staring for several moments before Baal finally spoke. "You would jeopardize our best chance at destroying humanity in spite?"

"We have different priorities right now, you and I. With you gone, I have been running Hell, when I could get Asmodan to stop fighting. Humanity is important. My place as one of the Three is more important." Belial sank back into his chair, tightening his talons around the arm.

After several minutes of tense silence, Baal finally spoke. "So be it." With an angry rush, he departed.

Alone again in the darkness, Belial smiled, repeating the conversation in his mind.

Emerging on the blasted stone of Hell, Garou quickly swept up Cain, and the others gathered around him. "Let's make a run for it before they realize we're here." As the first demons started to turn, reacting to their presence, a quick volley of arrows and spells gave them an opening towards the Sanctuary staircase.

They made it to the stairwell, Garou vaulting up several at a time while the others guarded his back. Tyrael met him halfway down, blasting away the small crowd of demons. "Welcome to Hell, warriors," the angel said. "Or, perhaps in your case, welcome back is more appropriate."

Feigning wounded pride, Cain was put back on his feet, hobbling up to the Sanctuary. "Tyrael," Rupert said, "We need to get to Harrogath. It's more important than tracking down Diablo right now." He almost had to jog to keep up with the angel's swift pace.

"What you said before was true. Baal is assaulting Mount Arreat." He stopped suddenly, and the seven almost collided with him. "However, defeating Diablo is more important right now."

"How can you say that?" Erris asked angrily. "Last time, Baal had already started his corruption of the Worldstone before we arrived!"

Tyrael smiled. "Yes. But from what you said about the Worldstone, Baal only had an hour, or less, before your arrival." He looked back out and down into Hell. "As we speak, Baal's demon armies are at a standstill, unable to pass Harrogath. But Diablo is massing reinforcements to send as aid."

Tharos whistled unhappily. "Great. So either we go to Harrogath, try to go through the entire army to reach Baal, or stay here and stop Diablo before he can finish his army." He shook his head, and his skeletons imitated him. "Not a happy choice."

Muttering among themselves, the heroes moved back towards the stairway, looking down at the monotonous gray landscape of Hell. "So, what do we do?" Oksana asked quietly.

Ron Bars fiddled with an axe handle. "As much as I want to return home and defend my people, I think Tyrael is correct. We've got to stop Diablo before he send reinforcements." He swore, shaking his head. "I don't like it at all."

Rupert nodded. "Neither do I. But we have a duty here." Hefting his scepter, he started down the steps. Unhappily, his friends followed.

At the Hellforge, Ron Bars went dancing through the swarms of maggot young, crushing them with his war boots as his axes also sent pieces flying. His friends were fighting along side of him, driving back the demonic horde. Off to one side, Rupert was trading blows with Griswold, and the blacksmith was clearly on the losing end.

Before long, Griswold was the only one left standing. Wicked bruises covered his skin, and he was teetering on the edge of the platform, only inches away from the River of Flames. Carefully, Rupert disengaged and stepped back. "Hand over the forge hammer, Griswold, and I won't kill you."

The scared blacksmith moaned, looking around for any avenue of escape. Desperate, he pulled back, and threw the hammer over the Hellforge as a distraction. But when he tried to make a break for it, Erris sent an arrow clipping the edge of his ear. "Watch it, chubby," she growled.

Everyone waited while Ron Bars picked up the forge hammer, taking the blue Soulstone from Jezebel and placing it on the Hellforge. Lifting the hammer, he smashed it into blue powder, that quickly blew away on the constant sulfurous winds. "Well, that's done. Let's go."

"What about him?" Garou pointed at Griswold as the others backed away. "We're just going to leave him here?"

He chuckled. "Why not? If he proceeds to attack us again, he gets to take a swim." As if to underscore the barbarian's words, one of the tortured souls nearby tried again to cast itself out of the flames, before being dragged swiftly back down.

Agreeing with his words, the others followed Ron back along the pathways towards the Chaos Sanctuary. They passed Hadriel, sitting on a small wooden stool, reading from an elegant book. "Bye bye, gents, have fun storming the castle," he said with an airy wave.

They passed into the fallen cathedral, dealing out death and destruction to the demons and skeletal warriors. Before long, four of the seals had been activated. As they started to head down to the last seal, Oksana looked up. "Hey, isn't this a little bit odd?"

Rupert followed her gaze up. "What's odd about it?"

"Well, look around this place. Most of it is falling apart at the seams – missing walls, no windows, like it had been abandoned for ages." She gestured up, above the metal pentagram where Diablo had appeared. "But right here, the ceiling isn't just intact, it's almost a cage."

Everyone looked up, studying the lines of metal beams that crossed the area. Tharos smiled. "It almost does look like a cage. I wonder, what would happen if it broke away and fell?"

After a great deal of discussion, they spent the next hour helping Oksana prepare her traps for their plan. Then, once everything was in place, they turned towards the last seal. Diablo's last group of minions was slain, smashed into bony dust, and they raced back into the center of the cathedral to prepare.

The building began to shake, and from somewhere, they could hear Diablo's voice. "Ready to die, warriors?" he roared. Then, with a burst of flames, he appeared in the middle of the pentagram.

The first strikes went flying at the metal rods in the ceiling, where they had attached the fire bomb traps. An arrow, a lightning bolt, and two bursts of skeletal flame shot up, setting them off. The massive explosion rocked the whole building again, and with a tortured scream, the ceiling fell in on Diablo.

The demon tried to escape, and that proved his undoing. The edge of the cave, leading with jagged metal point, smashed into his back, walloping him to the ground. Two flying axes then burned into his sides, even as the great demon tried to retaliate. As his blood spilled away in rivers, Diablo tried to curse them, but his strength fled too quickly.

They stood for a moment, admiring their handiwork. "Well, that was bracing," Erris said. "Can we get a move on now and stop Baal?"

Jezebel read off the scroll, and they hurried to confront Tyrael, hoping that they had not already wasted too much time.


	17. Nightmare Act 5, Hell Mode, and The End

Emerging in Harrogath, Ron Bars stopped everyone before they had gone too far. "If we hurry, we might be able to catch Nihlathak," he said. "We don't know when he gave the relic to Baal, so if we're lucky, we're still in time."

Weapons still at the ready, they ran across town, sliding in the fresh and still-falling snow. When they came out into the square, Nihlathak was standing in front of his house, talking with one of the women of the city. Without so much as a warning, Erris fired at him. He looked up just in time and shrieked, trying to dive out of the way.

The arrow caught him in the arm, launching him backwards against the side of the house. With sudden fury in his eyes, the elder launched a bone spirit at them. Qual-Kehk dived in front of it, stoically taking the blow as he pulled free his own pair of axes. "I remember!" he screeched, launching another one at the heroes. "I remember everything, and my new lord Baal shall have his revenge on you!" With a burst of flames, he vanished.

Fortunately, the snow prevented anything from catching fire. Slowly, Qual-Kehk lowered his weapons and turned to face them grimly. "Ron Bars, what the hell just happened here?"

Rupert stopped them. "Not just yet. We should check and see if Anya's already here, and whether or not Baal has had a chance to start controlling her." In agreement, they turned and ran back across the city, the warrior at their heels.

Erris pounded frantically on the door of her house, and had almost decided to break down the door when Anya opened it. "Who are all you people? What's going on?"

Tharos smiled grimly, leveling his wand. "Nihlathak just vanished to give the relic to Baal. You've got ten seconds to prove that you're not on his side too, then we knock you unconscious and keep you someplace secure until we've dealt with the Lord of Destruction."

Her face pale, Anya slowly stepped outside. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Why would I betray my people and side with Baal?" She looked around for support, and finding none.

Ron Bars shook his head. "Look, this might sound odd, but all of this has happened before – at least to us. And you pushed me over the side of a cliff to help Baal."

Oksana took her by the arm. "We know it wasn't your fault – that demon was controlling your mind. But we can't risk anything this time." Slowly, they led her away from her house to Malah's infirmary, still distrustful.

Returning with the last batch of rescued soldiers, the heroes were startled by the sudden sound of an explosion. Able warriors raced across the town, to arrive at the side of Anya's house. It had been torn open by the explosion, and buildings all around were scorched. Quickly everyone formed a squad, using buckets and empty helmets to throw patches of snow on the flames.

"Nihlathak must have kidnapped her anyway," Erris cursed as she dumped an overflowing helmet of snow onto a slowly burning chair. "So do we go after her?"

Qual-Kehk looked affronted as he roughly handed her a bucket of snow. "You must go after her. As the only child of one of our elders, she must be rescued." He fell quiet for a moment, handing back an empty helmet. "Even if what you said about Anya and Baal is true."

Rupert shrugged, retrieving his helmet as it went past. "Well, if we hurry, we can probably reach the start of the tunnels by nightfall." As the others put their helms back on as well, he started back towards the portal.

Tharos sighed as his minions dropped their buckets and turned to follow the others. "I only hope we can be a little faster this time," he said as they stepped back onto the plateau.

In the cave near the frozen river, Erris' silent opening shot burrowed through the head of the lead ice demon, dropping him like a stone. The others rushed up to support her, now that the need for silence had passed. Minotaurs and ice beasts died by the dozens in the narrow passageway, until they could get through to reach Anya's icy prison.

Oksana pulled the small bottle from her belt, and poured the orange liquid over the ice, watching as it melted magically away. Ron Bars caught her before she fell, and Garou carefully bound her wrists before they carried her back to town. "Keep an eye on her," the druid told Malah. "We don't know what caused her to turn to Baal last time, so we're taking no chances."

Outside, Ron Bars stared up at the stars, twinkling clearly in the night sky. "It's such a pity," he sighed heavily. "The winter weather can be harsh sometimes, but it's often the most beautiful season of the year."

For a moment, everyone stood gazing up at the sky along with him. "Well," Rupert said, clapping him on the back, "let's get some sleep before going up the next section of mountain tomorrow."

Everyone dispersed to their beds for the night, still stealing occasional glances at the sky through the buildings and the trees.

On the summit of the mountain, they all paused, looking at the golden statues of the Ancients. "And now we get to do this all over again," Tharos remarked dryly. "Should we split up the Ancients evenly between us?"

Rupert snorted. "Well, I suppose it's better than tying them up."

Jezebel winked at Oksana. "I don't know, it was rather effective last time, wasn't it?"

Looking somewhat annoyed Ron Bars grabbed the book on the pedestal and flipped it open. Reading it loudly, he grinned around the words as his friends hurriedly prepared themselves for the furious battle ahead.

Talic leapt forward, his giant sword swinging down with a hum. But Ahnold blocked it easily, leaving him open for the furious swipes of Garou. Still, they held in a stalemate for many moments, until the unfortunate warrior was bitten in the ankle by Dogmeat, knocking him to the ground.

Madawc threw his axes at Ron Bars the moment he could move. But to his surprise, Ron caught the axes, throwing them back. Dodging a hail of arrows and lightning bolts, the warrior was hit by his own axes, casting him backwards into the rocks.

Korlic swept his halberd down towards Rupert, stepping back for a better range with the giant weapon. Unfortunately, the iron golem had been standing right behind him, and wasted no time trying to grapple the armored warrior. They went back and forth, Korlic keeping Rupert and Oksana at bay while he tried to wrestle free of the spiked golem before it found a weak point in his armor.

As Ahnold and Garou fought to keep Talic down on the ground, the golem staggered backwards, crushing his head like a grape. They winced, and Garou took a slash on the flank from Korlic as they went tottering in a different direction. Oksana managed to grab the halberd for a moment, immobilizing the weapon while the others hammered the warrior with blows.

Madawc, stunned and flattened against the rocks, clung furiously to life even as he tore his own weapons free of his flesh. As he eluded the rain of missle fire his way, Tharos cursed him. With his muscles turned to glue, the warrior was an easy target for the next pair of arrows.

With his last breath, Madawc grunted, "Baal is only a few minutes ahead of you. Hurry!" Spitting blood, he toppled towards the snow, vanishing even as he did so. With a sudden clatter, the barbed gates opened, and they raced inside.

With a warcry, Ron Bars jumped down the flight of stairs, his axes each shearing a harpy in two while he landed on a third. Screeching in anger, they scattered, launching curses at the other heroes as they more slowly descended the stairs. "Isn't the waypoint around here somewhere?" Tharos shouted as he directed his skeletons' fire.

"I think we passed it one floor up," Jezebel called back, blocking a minotaur's axe before roasting him alive. "No time to stop, anyway. We have to reach Baal!"

Garou roared before chomping down on another minotaur, tearing an arm off. "I can't help thinking that we forgot about something," he mumbled as he spat out the muscles. "Anyone else know what?"

Ahnold roared from the front of the group, tossing an imp away like a dead rat. "Nihlathak!" As they caught up to him, they could see row upon row of undead warriors, standing in ranks and holding their flamberges at the ready. Behind them, levitating in the air, was the fallen elder.

"I told you, I remembered everything!" he cackled. "Not going to take a detour this time, were you, little pathetic children," he ranted on. As he raised his hands, the undead stepped forward en masse, swinging their deadly weapons like a wall of death across the corridor.

"Is there any way to get around them?" Rupert asked anxiously, looking around the maze of passages.

Oksana laughed, and leaped forward into the fray alone. Dancing easily between the strikes, she taunted the skeletons. Within the first seconds, it was obvious that all of the skeletons were moving in perfect unison. As she danced between them, jumping over blades and under legs, half of the undead battered each other to pieces. When they rose back up again, the order was completely upset, as the raised warriors moved seconds behind their companions.

Once the entire group was mired in total chaos, with Nihlathak screaming furiously in the background, Erris lined up her shot. The arrow tore through Nihlathak's throat, almost separating his head from his shoulders. As he fell to the ground, the skeletons stopped returning to life. "Hurry up, we've already lost too many minutes," Erris called as the dashed between the falling bones.

Leaping past the last of the undead, they raced for the next set of stairs, trying urgently to regain their lead over Baal.

On the last floor, they tore around the corridors, barely stopping to ensure that the demons were dead. Ron Bars reached the open chamber first, slowing down and swearing. On the far side of the room, they could just witness Baal crossing under the archway into the Worldstone chamber. Between them stood Lister and his cohorts.

Oksana swore, then closed her eyes and vanished from sight. The two barbarians stood side by side, waiting for the first of the giant lizards to charge them. When it did, their strikes knocked it sideways into a stone column. One demon took a stride forward, only to reel back as its face sprouted arrows like porcupine quills. Garou waited in the center of the room for another one to charge, throwing miniature tornados at it.

Rupert swore even as they downed another demon. "Damn it all, we have to get through them now!" Leaping forward, he smashed his scepter into Lister's leg. The resulting thunderbolt shook the mountain and blinded all of them, but when they could see again, nothing was left of the massive demon but a small pile of ash.

Through the archway came the sound of traps firing. "Damnit, we have to help her!" Tharos was the first through his archway, his minions flanking him.

Inside was a scene of carnage. The last of Baal's demonic escorts were laying around the room, scorch marks or slashes depicting their method of death. Standing over the chasm, Baal held Oksana in one hand. Her weapons ineffectually opened cuts on his arm, but the demon laughed as he hurled her into the Worldstone. As the others watched, horrified, her body left a red smear as it fell into the chasm.

The Lord of Destruction turned angrily to stare them down. "So, mortals, you arrived here. Still too late!" His laugh shook the cavern, breaking off fragments of stone. "And despite it all, you still got betrayed!"

A sudden thunk came from behind them. Turning around, Jezebel blasted Anya with a lightning bolt before she could get up. "Maybe, but at least this time we were prepared for it," she said angrily. As Baal opened his mouth to retort, Erris let fly an arrow, and the battle was joined.

With their new skills, this battle was no less fierce than the last. Jezebel was caught in tentacles, only to have them smashed away from her by a tornado. Baal's mirror image was repeatedly blasted to ash by Rupert's heavenly bolts. But as the battle wore on, the demon began to gain the upper hand.

First Garou died, trapped by tentacles and hurled into the abyss before he could free himself. Ahnold nearly severed one of Baal's legs, only to have his neck snapped like a twig. Erris died when the demon's double appeared behind her, immolating her in an instant. Rupert was hit with a wave of cold, flattening him against the wall and suffocating him as ice filled his mouth.

Jezebel, Tharos, and Ron Bars were the only ones left standing, but Baal was on his last legs. Tharos' curses layered the demon faster than he could negate them, and a constant barrage of lightning bolts knocked him off balance. The iron golem had latched onto one arm, leaving Ron Bars open to smash him again and again with his axes.

In a last desperate effort, Baal reared back, grabbing the golem with his free hand, knocking the barbarian backwards. Tearing his own arm off at the elbow, he hurled the golem at Tharos, crushing him into a column. But when the fireball exploded beneath him, Baal could not regain his balance. Shouting out curses, he toppled over the edge. Jezebel almost wept when she heard his cries cut off as he hit bottom.

"Help me stand," Ron Bars gasped out from where he lay. She rushed over to him, lending her staff as he forced himself to his feet. One leg had been cut open to the bone, the muscles almost completely ripped away. Leaning heavily on her, they limped to the edge of the chasm.

"Are you going to hit it again?" Tharos voice echoed strangely in the cavern. As they looked incredulously at him, he attempted to shrug. "Yes, I'm dead. I have read about powerful necromancers animating themselves after death, but I never believed it before."

The barbarian turned to look back at the Worldstone. In almost the identical place, a spot of darkness marred the perfection. "It's smaller this time," he said in wonder. "We were faster." Suddenly, he turned to Jezebel. "Listen, when I jump, you need to hit me with a lightning bolt."

"What?" She gaped at him in shock. "That would kill you!"

He shook his head confidently. "No. With this leg," he gestured painfully, "I can't jump out there. I need the extra momentum." Carefully, he gripped one axe in both hands. "When I reach the top of my jump."

Balancing carefully on one working leg, he took a deep breath and launched himself out into the chasm. At the top of his jump, the promised bolt struck him in the back, and the axe swung down towards the Worldstone. Just before it struck, again Tyrael shouted, "No!"

With a bright flash, the world vanished.

**Hell**

Tharos gasped in pain, backpedaling furiously and blocking with his shield. He muttered something obscene under his breath, and fired a bone spear from his wand, skipping it off the zombie's head. It moaned, and swung again, connecting against his gothic shield with a muffled clang. With another slam from his golem, the zombie's face caved in, and the monster fell to the ground.

He stood silently for a moment, looking around the dim cave. The light enchantment on his helmet lit the gloom only slightly, but nothing moved. After another moment, Tharos waved his hand, muttering the arcane sigil. The fallen zombie twitched, then the bones ripped free, climbing over each other. The skeleton stood there, swaying slightly, bony hands glowing with magical fire.

Tharos smiled, and turned to head deeper into the cave. But with a crackling explosion, his skeleton warrior collapsed, as an arrow flew out of the darkness. The iron golem caught the skull, the arrow still sticking out of an eye socket.

Tharos stepped around the corner of the wall. "What the hell did you do that for?"

Erris grabbed another arrow from her quiver, placing it against the string. "Prepare to die, foul necromancer!"

He snorted. "Don't be ridiculous, Erris." Both of them suddenly stopped, staring at each other in confusion. "How do I know your name?" he asked, warily pointing his wand at her.

She slowly lowered the bow. "I don't know. But you look familiar somehow." They stepped forward, and extended empty hands.

When their fingers touched, they both felt like a lightning bolt had gone through them. Both of them suddenly remembered everything, from their first meeting in this cave, to their deaths at Baal's hands, and their second death. "What happened after I died?" Erris asked, whispering in fear.

Tharos shuddered. "Well, I got smashed by my own golem. And then reanimated myself as a zombie."

"That sounds very sickening." Erris shuddered as well, rubbing her hands over her arms. "Please, don't ever remind me of that." They turned and headed to where Oksana and Rupert would be. "Do you think Ron defeated Baal again?"

Tharos shrugged. "Won't know until we ask him, will we?" Grinning, he shouted into the cave ahead, "Look out behind you Rupert!" The expected shout of surprise echoed back.

The friends reunited, and briefly discussed the end of the second battle with Baal. Everyone shuddered when Tharos described being one of the undead. "Oh, come on, it's not that bad," he protested in jest. "I mean, you don't have to sleep, or eat, just deal with annoying adventurers looting your grave."

Groaning, they turned towards the Underground Passage. There was no time to lose this time.

* * *

In the hall before the Worldstone, Baal scampered up the steps, charging into the Worldstone chamber. Behind him, Lister barely made a bump as the heroes struck him down, racing to catch Baal before his destructive magics could be loosed against the Worldstone. The demon hissed as an arrow blazed into his rump, but a moment later he was out of sight.

Leaping over the chasm, he skidded onto the center platform, raising his hands and shouting out the corruption spell hurriedly. But a lightning bolt crashed into one arm, throwing off his spell. Instead of striking the center of the Worldstone, as he expected, it barely clipped the edge.

Furiously, he turned, blasting them with a massive wave of cold. But the heroes came through almost unscathed, returning their own attacks. A lightning bolt and a pair of arrows smacked into him, and a firebomb blew apart the tiles under one foot. The two barbarians leapt over the abyss as well, smashing through his protective wall of tentacles.

The battle raged back and forth for almost an hour. Baal recovered the upper hand quickly, throwing Garou across the room. But no matter how much damage he seemed to do, the heroes simply kept coming back, fighting tenaciously. Before long, Baal teetered on the edge, trying to block attacks from four warriors, and continually being struck by spells, arrows, and traps.

The golem finally dealt the deciding blow. While Baal was distracted by the more furious strikes of Ahnold and Ron Bars, Tharos had directed his minion around the edge of the room, through the shadows, to come up on his blind flank. Then the spiked golem crawled under the demon, standing up and tearing at the weaker underside.

As Baal screamed in pain, Garou jumped onto his back, pulling head back. Taking careful aim, Ron Bars swung both axes, cutting the demon's head clean off. Blood spattered everywhere in the room, burning their skin like acid. They fought to quickly get clean, even using healing potions to wash away the blood.

With their foe defeated, the seven heroes turned to look at the Worldstone. With a heavy sigh, Ron Bars tightened his grip on his axe. "We still didn't get here in time to stop Baal," he lamented, looking at the hand-sized patch of darkness. "Do we have to go through all of this again?"

"I wouldn't recommend it," Tyrael admonished from behind them. Ahnold gaped, and backed away, falling to his knees. The seven warriors, however, ignored him, watching the angel. He strode forward to the edge, watching the small patch of blight on the Worldstone. "Only an immortal can break the Worldstone. If you did it again, it would probably kill all of you."

Rupert blanched. "Well, what are we supposed to do then? Just allow Baal to corrupt the Worldstone and control all magic in our world?"

"Stand back," he instructed, and rose into the air. Wielding pure light like a javelin, he cast it at the Worldstone. With a giant rumble, it shattered into millions of pieces, almost all of them vanishing to fly away, somewhere into the world. His hands cupped, Tyrael alighted back on the edge. "These are for you."

Slowly, they each stepped forward to take a small piece of the magic stone. Holding them reverently, they pondered the small pieces of rock. "Amazing that something so small can hold so much power," Jezebel murmured.

"They will allow you some access to magic, just as the Worldstone did," the angel explained. "But their effects are limited. And if they are broken, their power fades. Once every piece of stone is broken," he sighed, "magic will be gone from your world forever, and neither Heaven nor Hell will be able to reach it."

Tharos pondered his stone for a moment, before carefully sticking it into the forehead of his golem. "What will happen to the world when magic vanishes, Tyrael?"

"It will continue. Humans will be born, love and hate and desire and care and kill, just as they have for centuries." His face was neutral as he spoke. "When they die, their souls will be judged, and sentenced to Heaven or Hell until our war has been decided."

Erris snorted. "Somehow, coming from you, that sounds depressing." He raised an eyebrow, but otherwise said nothing. "Well, what are we supposed to do now?"

"Why, whatever you wish, of course. Your task here has been completed," Tyrael said. Waving his hand, a portal opened. "Please, return to Harrogath, and plan your lives as you will." Stepping backwards, Tyrael vanished.

Gathering their arms together, they returned to the bright winter day of Harrogath. Cain looked up as they appeared. "It worked exactly like I said. Anya is still asleep."

Rupert chuckled. "Well, that's good, because Baal is dead. Tyrael has shattered the Worldstone." He stared up at the clear sky for a moment. "Things are going to change in this world."

The old sage shrugged. "I've seen just about enough changing for my lifetime. Ah, my poor home of Tristram," he lamented.

Rupert looked curious. "Say, now that the Council is probably over their orb-induced hatred, do you think they would be interested in having someone rebuild the cathedral there?"

"Hmm, perhaps they will. But who would want to return to such a place?" Cain wondered aloud.

The paladin shrugged. "I'm not sure, but maybe with a paladin leading the efforts, it'll work. Maybe I can even talk Larzuk into coming to be the new blacksmith."

"Talk me into going where?" Larzuk asked as he walked into the slowly gathering celebration.

"Tristram. This crazy paladin here says he's going to rebuild the city," Cain said mockingly. "As if he can build the cathedral himself!"

The blacksmith laughed, clapping a hand onto Rupert's shoulder with a smile. "Actually, it sounds like a challenge. And I've always wanted to travel." As the two shared a smile, Cain groaned.

"Angels preserve us!"

On the outskirts of the gathering people, Oksana and Tharos sat on a rough garden wall. "I never thought I would live to see the day when I had faced down the leaders of Hell," he said quietly, voice full of awe.

"Me neither," she agreed, shaking her head slowly. "I feel like we've been doing this for ages, the way time moved around."

He chuckled, wrapping his arms around her. For several moments, they just held each other in silence. "I think we should leave here," Tharos said quietly. "Find somewhere quiet and raise a family, maybe."

"Oh really?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "What makes you think I'd be any good at raising children?"

With a twinkle in his eyes, he kissed her. "Oksana, my love, I don't know how good you'll be at raising them, but I'm entirely sure that you'll have great fun making them." Sharing a lustful look, they slipped out the gates of Harrogath, heading south.

Garou snagged two flagons of honey mead as they went past, handing one to Jezebel. "We've freed the world from destruction," he said. "It wasn't quite what I expected."

She chuckled, a little sadly, and fingered her shard of Worldstone. "Both of our people are so dependent on magic," she said quietly. "How are we going to adjust to a world without magic?"

Taking a large sip, he patted her on the back. "I don't think that magic will fade away right away. The Worldstone still exists, just not in one piece anymore." He pulled out his own shard. "We'll learn what to do about it soon enough."

"Maybe we could start a school or something," she said, watching the joyful barbarians start a fire in the middle of the square. "You know, learn how magic works using these shards, and teach our people."

"Hmm." Taking another sip, he coughed as he tried to laugh. Dogmeat snuck up behind another barbarian, and grabbed the roasted turkey leg from his hand, dashing away as the half-drunk warrior shouted in outrage. Whining happily, he dropped it in the snow at Jezebel's feet, and she made a disgusted face. "That's ok, Dogmeat," Garou laughed, "it's all yours."

Standing by the steps of Malah's infirmary, Ron Bars and Erris were wrapped up in his large fur cloak. "It's funny," he said, "but I never expected to be this big hero. I mean, my clan will be telling stories about me for years to come." A little glum, he watched the others, dancing around the fire, roasting meat and sharing flagons of mead. "What am I supposed to do with the rest of my life?"

Snickering, she leaned back against him. "Have you considered piracy? We could steal my mother's ship, and you could be the dread pirate Ron, or something." As his booming laugh echoed across the courtyard, she turned to look at him, feigning anger. "You don't think that's a good plan?"

He planted a big kiss on her forehead, and she smiled. "Why, did you want to drag me across the world, to a bunch of tiny islands where it never snows?"

"Well, I think my mother would be positively indignant if I didn't bring my husband home to meet her." With an even wider smile, she watched the revelers as he sputtered for a moment. Turning around, she silenced his protests with a kiss.

After a few moments, he pulled back far enough to look her in the eyes. "Alright, we'll go visit your homeland if you insist. But only if I get to choose the ship."

"Done," she agreed, and they happily returned to kissing. Nearby, Malah and Qual-Kehk watched them.

"Do you remember when we were that eagerly in love?" the warrior asked his wife.

With a glare, she turned on him. "You mean to tell me, after all these years of faithful service, raising our three children, that you're not in love with me anymore?" Before she could make any larger a scene, he picked her up, dipping her into a great kiss. Cain led the watching barbarians in a slightly drunken cheer.

The world was safe.

For now.

* * *

In Hell, Belial waited in the dark cave that was his sanctum. Out on the plains of Hell, he could hear the noises of demons, and the end of a very brief battle. Asmodan had learned of the return of Baal a little too late, and determined to fight for control of the limited area of Hell he had been left. But with all the others arrayed against him, Asmodan was struck down by Baal himself, and was currently shackled. No doubt he would be freed soon enough, as the leaders of Hell had never changed since they had split from the ranks of Heaven.

Sure enough, a small party had soon departed the battlefield, ascending towards him. Belial waited, standing there in the darkness, deceptively at peace. Long before they were in sight, he knew who they were – the other Prime Evils. Led by Baal, flanked by Mephisto and Duriel, they stopped just outside his cave.

"Congratulations are in order, I suppose?" he asked quietly. Andariel shifted in the rear, holding tightly to the chains binding Asmodan.

Baal lunged forward, clawed hands reaching for Belial. Wrapping talons around the smaller demon's neck, Baal roared. The very sound of his voice shook the firmaments of Hell, and their lackeys everywhere quaked in fear. "Do you so hate your position here that you dare insult me to my face?"

To his surprise, Belial smiled. "Insult you? The plan worked. The corruption spell convinced Tyrael to shatter the Worldstone, and the mortal world will slowly wither away because of it." Cautiously tapping a finger against Baal's arm, he asked, "Would you put me down now?"

With another roar, Baal hurled him against the side of the mountain, and he struck with the sharp crack of breaking bones. "You are a fool, powerless Belial!" he shouted, turning around to descend down the mountain.

But, eerily quiet, his own voice echoed back at him. Belial echoed their entire conversation, and the other rulers of Hell shifted angrily, obviously plotting against themselves. Mephisto, in particular, looked furious. "I kept my end of the bargain, Baal," he finished. "I helped you get into the mortal world, I helped free you, Diablo, and Mephisto, and I told you how to reach the Worldstone and shatter it."

Coldly, Baal looked over his shoulder. "Very well then, Belial, since Diablo is still in the mortal world, you can take his place." He took several strides away, calling over his shoulder, "But only if you can earn it."

The other Great Evils dispersed, secretly plotting against him, no doubt. Even Asmodan, despite his resistance earlier, was ignored to shuffle off as best he could in his shackles. After they were gone, the broken and injured Belial vanished into so much smoke. The true Belial, still safe inside his cave, shook his head at the simplicity of his illusion. "You will rue this day, Baal," he whispered. "What good is destruction if you do not know where to use it?"


End file.
